Duo's Child
by Kitty Felone
Summary: Humor, General, and eventually heavily Angst ... The child of a Gundam Pilot has a normal life, but peace can never last forever.
1. Duo's Child

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Duo's Child

Chapter 1

It was raining, very few people cared about anything, and storeowners were especially cruel to children within these times. However, normal people were as well rude to others.

"Duo! Will you please stop singing Kitto Ok! It's annoying the crud out of me!" Wufei shouted at the top of his lungs. This caused other café members to turn and look.

"Hey Wu-man, think you can be any louder?"

"It's Wufei! Wufei!"

"Wufei, please lower your voice, other people are beginning to stare at us." Quatre tried to tame the ever-so-calm Wufei from causing a scene.

"I can't believe this! This is INJUSTICE! I'm waiting outside!" Shouted Wufei, storming out of the coffee shop.

"Man, what's with him?"

"Duo, please try and be a little nicer to him."

"I am Q-man, how much nicer do you want me to become?"

"Shutting up is one way." Heero took a sip of his tea then stood up to leave.

"…Heero…now don't you start in, too." Duo and Trowa stood up, Duo stretched. Quatre stared out the window, looking at something.

"Hey Q, what's up?" Said Duo, looking out the window to try and match up with Quatre's eyes.

"I thought I saw someone outside…but I guess my eyes were playing tricks on me. It looked like a little girl was stealing something from the storeowner across the street." Quatre stood up and walked outside to Wufei and Heero. Trowa joined in and Duo humming his song.

"…Duo…" Wufei tried hard to ignore his humming.

As Quatre looked about, looking for what he saw earlier, a little girl was running from a store owner, obviously shouting at the top of his lungs to her.

"Get back her you little brat! No body steals from my store! You can't take something without paying! Get back here!" He caught up with her and pushed her down forward, and caused her to smash into the ground, the wetness creating a slip-and-slid reaction as she scraped her right knee. He then grabbed his stolen items back from her and shouted again.

"Damn girl! Go home to your parents and don't ever return to my store again!" He said, pushing her back down before he left. She sat in the middle of the street, in the rain and watched as her stolen food walked off.

"That was cruel…no one's supposed to hurt children like that." Quatre watched, feeling sorry for the girl.

"She looks younger than ten…but why is she outside in the rain all alone?" Trowa put his arm around Quatre, guiding him out of the rain as it changed directions.

"…She's a homeless girl then…" Duo spoke, actually sounding serious for once."

"Let's go, the rains getting harder." Heero walked off in the direction of their car. By that time, the little girl had already run off.

As they were walking, the same little girl ran into Duo and bumped into him, about a few blocks away from the parking lot with their car. Duo straddled himself steady and looked down, seeing the same little girl sitting on the ground from falling. Quatre looked down and noticed she looked even younger than what Trowa had assumed.

She backed away, frightened at what Duo may do to her. Instead Duo kneeled down to her level as she stood up.

"Hey little one…what are you doing out here in the rain all alone?" Serious, Duo tried with the little girl. "Where's your family? Where do you live?"

The little girl pointed around the corner, to what appeared to be a dead end. At first, Duo and the others thought she was making a joke or pointing out the direction, but Duo looked closer and saw she was pointing to a cardboard box with a couple of wet newspapers near by it. Duo looked back down to the little girl then up to Quatre, a pondering look spreading on his face. Trowa knelt down across from Duo.

"How old are you, huh?" Asked Trowa, his voice trying to be above monotone. The little girl looked at her fingers and help up her hand full extended.

"Five year's old, huh?" Trowa stood back up.

"Where's your parent's?" Quatre asked, caring as usual. Wufei had his right side turned on her and his arms were folded, showing off how he hated children.

At first, the little girl looked around for an answer to tell them, but she then pointed to a magazine that was lying near Duo's left knee. Duo looked over and saw the cover had images of the last battle fought against the White Fang.

"They died?" Asked Duo as she nodded. "How long ago? Like, how old were you then?"

Again, she counted on her fingers and held up three at first, then switched to four.

"Three and a half. She was three and a half years old when she lost her parents." Heero spoke, Wufei looked over to her.

"And she stayed alive this long?" The little girl glanced at Wufei then back down. She sat and cuddled her knees. Duo stood up and faced the others. Trowa was already standing.

"Quatre, I can't stand seeing her like this. I mean, I feel bad that the war we last fought in caused her to be an orphan."

"I don't blame you Duo…maybe we can check into an orphanage and—"

"Quatre…come on buddy. There's no war going on anymore and she's here all alone. I've been at the orphanage and trust me…it's not always the best of things."

"So what are you insisting Duo? That we take care of her? I mean, I feel like it's our fault that her parents were killed…"

"Quatre…think she can stay with us? We can all raise her, at least me if you guys don't wanna'!"

"Duo…I…" Quatre was speechless and didn't know how to answer. He wanted to help, but was afraid something would occur from it.

"What's your name little one?" Asked Duo as he bent over. She spoke but a single word very quiet, it took Duo a second to gather her answer. He then stood and looked at Quatre.

"She said her name is Uno."

"Duo…are you certain that you want to take the responsibility to take care of her?" Asked Quatre as the little girl roamed back to her box and sat down half inside, hugging her knees.

"Well…look at her!" Duo glanced at her. "She lost her parents due to a war we fought in for crying out loud!"

"You are crying out loud Duo. Trust me, you don't need to anymore." Wufei looked away and leant on the wall.

"I think it'll be a great thing for Duo to do, it'll teach him responsibility."

"Thank you Trowa…hey!" Duo spoke, slow reaction hitting him even slower.

"Well…sure, why not Duo. Go get her and I'll get the car."

"Thanks Quatre! I'll be sure I teach her all she needs to know!" Duo backed away, still facing them and talking. "She'll become the next God of Death!"

"Duo, you mean Goddess of Death." By then, Wufei's words hit nothing but air as Duo stood in front of the little girl. She looked up to him in question as he knelt down before her.

"So little one…you have no family what-so-ever, right?" She shook her head lightly, still letting Duo see her answer. "Would you like one? Would you mind if I raised you myself?"

She looked at him, pondering what he was talking about.

"I went through the same thing as you, but would you want to live with me and have warm food given to you? New clothes and a warm bed to sleep in?" Asked Duo, knowing he won the "kid-battle".

She nodded and inner-smiled, followed by a hug wrapping her arms around Duo's neck. Duo picked her up and stood. He then carried her over to Heero and Wufei. Heero looked at him as the car pulled up.

"Hm…" Heero looked away and got in the car.

Duo sat in after Wufei and as soon as the door shut, he noticed Uno was sound asleep. Quatre looked over to him and saw. He then smiled and drove off.

"Well what do you know…the moment she's held by me, she falls asleep." Duo smiled, and held her closer to him than the window.

After they reached the mansion and stepped out, Uno, who was still sound asleep, didn't see what her new house was going to look like from the outside just yet. Duo stepped in as Quatre turned around and looked at her.

"I think I may have been wrong about you Duo. Already she's fast asleep and all you did is hold her." Quatre smiled and leant backwards, edging Trowa into a hug. Trowa put his arms around Quatre and stifled a smile as well.

Uno opened her eyes and looked around…then back to Duo, who held her.

"Hey Uno…we're home, at you're new place." Uno looked around as Duo spoke more to her. "Do you want to get something to eat first? Or take a bathe? Are you hungry to eat first, or do you think you can wait 'til after?"

Uno nodded, not opening her mouth to speak.

"I think she wants to bathe first." Quatre asked and she nodded again. "Duo?"

"I got it…but before I bathe her, I need to see if she has anything to wear afterwards." Duo walked off to his room and entered it.

"Look at that, Duo's actually taking responsibility. Amazing, isn't it?" Trowa walked away with Quatre following behind.

In Duo's room, he was searching through his bags of old memories, Uno sat on his bed and looked around at his posters that hung on the wall. She kept her eyes set on the poster that hung on top of his bed.

"Aw, found it! My old clothes when I was an orphan your age." Duo took out his old shirt and jeans, black of course. "Good, not wrecked or destroyed!"

He turned around and saw Uno, lying on his bed and staring at the poster that hung above his bed, a picture of his Gundam in full action, besides it was the Grim Reaper. Duo walked over to her, looking at it too. She looked up at him.

"You like that picture, don't ya'?" She looked back to the poster then back to him and nodded. "I got ya' some clothes so let's go wash you up, alright?"

Uno wrapped her arms around him and he picked her up. Carrying her into his bathroom, Uno looked around at more of the dark and dreary pictures that he hung up. When he set her down she watched as he started the water to the tub.

"Do you want me to bathe you? Or do you think you can do it yourself?" Uno shrugged. "Alright, I'll bathe you, go on and get undressed, okay?"

Duo did his childish smile that he's had since he was five and it cheered Uno up enough to do as he said. When the water was ready, he lifted her up and set her in. She whimpered a little as the scratch on her knee hit the water, Duo then looked at it.

"Looks like you got a boo-boo." Duo stood up and got the peroxide. "Well, we need to clean that wound before it grows on ya', alright?"

Again, he smiled and she nodded happily. As he dabbed the scratch with a towel, she whimpered, but after a few dabs, it settled to a smooth sound.

"There you go, nice and clean. Okay?" She nodded and Duo grabbed at the shampoo bottles. "You're hair's going to smell like nice strawberries when we're all finished, okay?"

She nodded and Duo began to lather her hair, once in a while using a bucket to dump water over her head. About fifteen minutes later, he was finished with both shampoo and conditioner and was starting to bathe her body. He squirted some gel-soap onto a bathe sponge, he receive out of the mail, and lathered it up.

"Alright, now rub this all over your body to become all white and bubbly-looking, then when you're done, try and put water all over your body, okay?" Duo asked, trying to come up with a way to bathe her body without having to touch her. He watched as she did as told and when finished, she dunked herself. Duo was surprised that she didn't mind doing that at her age.

"Come on, let's dry ya' up and get ya' in these clothes. Kay?" He lifted her out of the tub and dried her with the towel. When he came to her knee, he dabbed at it dry and she held the towel as he stood to get the clothes.

She smiled and gladly took them from him and dressed. When she was finished, Duo hung the towel over the rack and pulled her over to the door mirror. He grabbed at his brush, and messed with a few tangles then combed her hair. She smiled as she watched herself become clean through the mirror. Her hair was long and brown, the length to at least her waist. When he was finished, Uno spun around, as she was happy her hair finally moved about, hitting her face and not leaving a dirty spot.

"Dang Uno…your hair is about the same length as mine." Duo smiled, getting a thought in his head. "Uno…how would you like it to be braided?"

She changed her face to a questionable one and looked at him in the mirror. He then smiled and dropped to his knees, pulling her hair back into a braid just like his. When he was through, she spun around and hugged him happy.

"Come on Uno, let's go show the others!" Duo knelt down more in means for her to climb on top. She did so and Duo walked out of the bathroom, careful as to not hit her head on the door. He left the room all together and walked down the hall happily to the group with Uno getting a piggyback-ride.

"Hey everyone…look!" Said Duo cheerfully as he lifted up Uno and put her back to the ground. She was wearing Duo's old clothing, though his style had never changed and her hair was braided exactly like his. She looked like his twin, but a younger age.

"God no…now there's two of them…" Said Wufei, standing up, his eyes wide and he looked as he was about to scream bloody murder.

"Duo…you sure helped clean her up alright…she looks just like you."

"I know Q-man! Her name even rhymes with mine! Duo…Uno!" Duo smiled his smile and Wufei almost puked.

"Maxwell…no…don't do that."

"Aw Wu-man, it cheers her up though."

"It's Wufei! Wufei! Geeze!" Wufei stormed out of the room.

"Well…looks like Wu-man ain't so happy about her being here."

From out of the room, he shouted again. "WUFEI!"

"…Wu…Fay…" Uno said as she continued holding Duo's hand.

Trowa sat up from the couch and looked over.

"Duo, did she ever speak before?" Heero asked leaning on the wall besides him.

"No…not at all." Duo bent over to face her. "Do you know how to speak, little one?"

"…" Uno pondered about what he just said and looked at Quatre, looking for an answer.

"I don't think she had ever learned how before." Quatre raised his hands to his chest.

"Can you say, Quatre?" Duo asked, finding out if she can speak. He pointed to Quatre as he asked.

"…Cat…tra." She stared at Duo then glanced at Quatre.

"…Hm…how about Heero?" Duo asked as he pointed to Heero. Heero watched.

"…He…whoa…" Uno blinked her innocent brown eyes, not knowing if she was right.

"Hm." Heero smirked.

"Can you try, Trowa?" He pointed to Trowa, who was now standing besides Quatre.

"Trow-wa." Uno looked at Duo and blinked again.

"I think you need to teach her Duo…how about this." Quatre turned to Trowa. "Trowa, get Uno some food while I go check the library for a book that'll help her with learning."

"Alright." Trowa walked away as Quatre fled out the door.

"Come on Uno, let's go eat." Duo took Uno by the hand and guided her out of the room and into the kitchen. When Duo sat her on top of a few phone books that Trowa sat down for her, he pulled his seat and sat besides her, and unaware of whom sat there before.

"Maxwell! Get your ass out of my seat, this instant!"

"Shhh, Wufei! Uno's just learning how to speak! Sheese!" Duo said, quickly covering Uno's ears.

"I don't care; get your lazy ass out of my seat!"

"Wufei!" Duo looked at him with his death glare. Heero walked in.

"This is INJUSTICE!" Wufei shouted as he stormed out of the room and away once again.

"Here you go Uno, I hope that's enough for you." Trowa said placing a plate of leftovers down in front of her.

"Hey; what about me?"

"You live here Duo, get your own."

"Sheese, you think you know somebody."

After Uno ate, she and Duo were sitting in the previous room on the love seat couch, facing each other while looking at the book Quatre found, 'The Little Train'. Heero watched the news along with Wufei and Trowa was reading a book, Quatre leaning on Trowa and watched Uno and Duo read.

"And…the li-tul twain said…"

"Good Uno keep going." Duo said, rubbing her head then dropping his hands. Heero and the rest glanced over.

"…I thee-nk…I can…I…think I can." Uno looked up to Duo. Dou smiled.

"Good girl, you're doing it!" He smiled again and rubbed her head. She smiled at him.

"Well what do you know? He's even teaching her how to read." Trowa watched as she read on. Quatre glanced at the clock.

"Duo, don't you think it's late enough? It's twelve o' clock." Duo looked over.

"Oh…you're right Q-man!" He looked at Uno as she closed the book. "Well Uno, let's get to bed, shall we?"

"Yes…" Uno smiled as she wrapped her arms around Duo again.

"That's cute how she keeps asking for hugs like that." Quatre smiled as Duo walked off with Uno in his arms.

"Night all!" Duo stopped at the corner and looked at Uno. "Say night, night, Uno."

"Night, night, Uno." Uno waved her childish fingers and smiled. Duo turned down the hall.

"She's cute." Quatre sat up and turned to Trowa.

"Please, the world doesn't need anymore Maxwell's in it!" Wufei began out of the room. "This is INJUSTICE! Nataku, save me!" Wufei stormed away and headed to his room.

After Duo pulled out the cot from under his bed and set the sheets on it, he lifted up Uno and sat her down. He then sat down on his bed besides her.

"So Uno…what do you think? Want to stay with me? Or live with the orphanage?"

"I want you, Duo." Uno said while reaching out for a hug.

"Oh Uno." Duo hugged her and set her in the sheets. He looked about his room for a stuffed animal for her to sleep with as every child at the age of five enjoys cuddling. He then found his stuffed Deathscythe and looked at it.

"I can always get another made for me." He walked over to Uno with it. "Here you go Uno, this is yours now. Okay?"

Uno smiled and greatly accepted the gift. "Thane-que, Duo." She hugged it tight and lay down.

"Soon, you'll be the next, God of Death." Duo smiled. "But you'll actually become the Goddess of Death."

Duo reached over and kissed her on the forehead, then climbed into his bed and clapped, putting out the lights.

Later that night, Uno started to shake in her sleep and Duo quickly woke up from hearing it. He looked over and crawled to that side of the bed. He shook her lightly on the shoulder, trying calmly to awaken her.

"Uno…Uno wake up, it's just a nightmare." Duo shook her more, but yet calmly. Uno's eyes opened, revealing fright.

"Bad dream?" Uno nodded and Duo smiled. "It's okay Uno; it's gone now, alright? I'm here now."

Uno nodded once again and lay back down; the moonlight shining in threw the sheets on the window and hit Duo's face as he shuts his eyes once again.

Uno sat up and climb out of bed, then climbed up to Duo's and crawled next besides him. Duo opened his eyes as she laid down besides him, still hugging at the stuffed Deathscythe.

"Want to sleep with me tonight?" She nodded. "Alright."

Duo pulled the sheets over her and lay back down once again, but not before watching her eyes shut, hugging the doll very tight. He smiled at this sight and laid his head down on the pillow. About a minute after that, when the light was no longer shining on Duo's face, Uno reached over and kissed him on the cheek, then lay back down. Duo smiled and laid his arm around her, eyes still shut as they both fell asleep cuddling.

"Aw…Trowa! Look how cute they look!" Quatre said while smiling and peeking in through the door to Duo and Uno. "It's so cute! Duo's doing very well taking care of her."

"All in one day, Duo found a homeless girl as he was, bathed her, fed her, and taught her how to read. All in one day, he met a life-bond friend." Trowa closed his eyes and guided Quatre away from their door, shutting it before entering their own room. "Just how will he tell this to Hildie?"

"Kinda' makes me want to have a kid myself." Quatre sat on the bed and looked at Trowa shutting the door. Trowa coughed and looked away, knowing that was impossible between the two.


	2. Duo's Decision

Duo's Child

Chapter 2

As the next morning shined in threw the windows, Uno woke up alone, but yet she didn't feel it as she used to. Sitting up and stretching, she looked back down to the stuffed doll that Duo had given to her that night before. She picked it up and stared at it, then lay back down and stared at the picture on the ceiling above the bed. Without extra glances at the two, she quickly hugged the stuffed Deathscythe and got out of bed.  
  
She checked the bathroom to see if Duo was there, but found an empty darkened room. Figuring he'd be in the other rooms, she opened the door and closed it behind herself, wandering about to the room where she hoped Duo would be.  
  
"Hey Uno; morning sweetie!" Duo smiled looking over his shoulder to see a yawning clone walk slowly up to them. She hugged the doll even more.  
  
"Duo…isn't that the Deathscythe Doll Hildie gave you for your birthday in regards of missing the actual machine?"  
  
"…Well…yeah. But Q', look at how cute she looks hugging it tightly." Duo opened his arms for her to sit next to him. He lifted her up and allowed it to happen.  
  
"Well…does she know what it means? That doll?"  
  
"Not yet…I'll tell her when she gets older." Duo played with her braid as she snuggled into his side more, yawning as she snuggled. "Cutie."  
  
"Duo," Began Heero walking into the room. "Hildie called earlier…she may stop by later today to give you your marshmallows."  
  
"Alright!" Duo shouted, obviously telling Wufei that Hell's awaken as he roamed into the room in his usual standard way.  
  
"Duo…it's ten in the morning. Not too loud until you're outside for good." Wufei leaned on the wall once again and looked at Uno curled up next to Duo. He couldn't help but actually smirk at the sight.  
  
"Uno…" Quatre walked up to her as she sat up. "Do you know what that doll is?"  
  
Uno shook her head as a five year old, Duo imitating her, tossing his braid around.  
  
"I like that! Wee!" Duo said as he began flipping his braid around.  
  
"Well…before I tell you…do you believe in God?" Quatre asked Uno seriously, kneeing in front of her.  
  
"…Uh, uh." Uno shook her head like a little five year old would be answering 'No' softly. Duo's eyes widened, remembering this sequence.  
  
"No?" Quatre was shocked, and yet again speechless. Trowa stepped in and stopped, seeing Quatre's shocked expression and Duo's wide eyes.  
  
"Then…what do you believe in? If you say there's no God?" Quatre glanced at Trowa then back to Uno.  
  
"Shinigami."

"…Uh…" Quatre glanced at Duo. "Duo…you sure you didn't tell her—"  
  
"No way Quatre! She's the one who said it just now!" Duo's eyes were big, remembering when he answered with the same exact word at that age.  
  
"She…believes in the God of Death?" Trowa walked to the other side of the couch and sat down, watching the scene.  
  
"Uno…" She looked up to Duo. "Why…exactly? I mean, why do you believe in Shinigami? Is it because of me?"  
  
Uno stared at him for a few second, trying to think of what he meant by that question, but simply shook her head again.  
  
"Alright…that's good. Because I—"  
  
"Shinigami cuz I never saw God, but mommy and daddy die." Uno, with her childish eyes, stared directly into Duo's.  
  
"Uh…" Silent, Duo said nothing. He knew where this was going.  
  
"Um…Uno?" She turned to Quatre. "Did you actually see your parents die?"  
  
"…"  
  
"…I see. So you never really seen death then? Have you? Then why do you believe in Shinigami? You never saw it actually happen." Quatre looked at her as she looked down, hugging the doll even tighter. Duo rubbed her back a little.  
  
"…Too much blood."

"Huh?" Quatre and Duo snapped into her reality and realized that she had seen her parents die.  
  
"…You saw…when?" She looked at Duo, pondering.  
  
"Uno…when did you see you're parents die? How if I might add." Heero sat down on the couch, off the end of Duo.  
  
"Geese Heero, she's only a little girl, think she knows that much and would want to remember it too?"  
  
"Hm…" Heero looked away from Duo after that point and back to Uno.  
  
"Well Uno…did you know Shinigami means 'God of Death'?" Asked Duo; aiming at the doll she hugged ever so tightly.  
  
Uno shook her head slightly, still looking at Duo.  
  
"It does…and that doll you're hugging right now," Duo took the doll from her and faced it to her. "Is Shinigami; the machine that killed as the God of Death."  
  
Uno's mouth dropped a little at that point. Wufei, who was reading a book by now, suddenly became less silent, but still kept his nose in the binding.  
  
"There you go Maxwell. Scare the girl to where she hates the fact that you're him."  
  
"Wufei…" Duo gripped his fists; beginning to think Wufei was correct until Uno grabbed the doll out of his hands and squeezed it in a hug again. Duo watched this action take place and smiled.  
  
"Looks like you were wrong Wu. She still enjoys it." Duo wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side again, another hug. Wufei slammed the book shut and looked at Duo.  
  
"The name's Wufei! Get it right Maxwell!"  
  
"Wu-man!" Uno smiled her tight smile and Duo smirked.  
  
"…No…Nataku!" Wufei paced out of the room through the door and was sure he slammed it shut. Duo busted out laughing.  
  
"Ha, ha! You go, Uno!" Duo hugged her tight, laughing uncontrollably. "Now Uno's gonna' be callin' Wu that from now on!"  
  
"Oh Duo…"Quatre stood up and sat on the love seat where Trowa now sat. He shook his head slightly at the stupidity Duo gave off. Uno kept on smiling a normal smile, trying to suppress her laughter from Duo's.  
  
"This is the next Shinimegami!" Duo hugged her once again as Uno smiled, looking at Heero and noticing his death glare. She stared at it for a few minutes, studying it when the doorbell rang, kicking her back into reality.  
  
"Uh oh…" Duo glanced over to Heero, who now was standing and waiting to see who it was before fleeing in the halls. "Looks like we got ourselves another invader."

"She usually brings bad luck." Heero stepped back, aiming for the point to hop the couch and make a run for it. "For the past several visits, she nearly cost a war to happen."  
  
"Duo…it's for you." Quatre saw Heero nearly on the verge of collapsing on the couch.  
  
"Oh…she's early." Duo mentioned before glancing at the clock and noticing the time. "Then again…it's already one…damn—I mean…dang!"  
  
Duo shut his mouth, almost forgetting Uno's listening ears as he stepped towards Hildie at the end of the hallway.  
  
"Duo."

"Hey babe, what's up?" Duo pecked her on the cheek and side hugged her, giving her the usual 'public greeting'.  
  
"Nothing major, but I stopped by to ask if you still were up to seeing that new horror flick, 'Keepers of Death'?" Hildie sworn into his eyes, the way she knew to win him over, however, Duo had plans he couldn't and wouldn't break.  
  
"Sorry babe, but I can't."  
  
"Duo! You promised me last week!" She tried again with her eyes, hoping she'd change his mind.  
  
"Well, I had something very important come up, and—no, you're eyes aren't working on me for this one, sorry babe."  
  
"Duo…what's more important than spending some free time with your girlfriend?" Hildie, who was now practically shouting, hadn't noticed someone tugging at Duo's arm. "The war's are over now, so what else could you be doing here?"  
  
"Well I—"  
  
"Duo?" Uno tugged again.  
  
"Hildie…meet Uno." Duo knelt down to face Uno and turned her to Hildie. "This is my new friend whom I'm raising."  
  
Hildie looked down and almost thought she was seeing things. Duo usually wasn't serious about kids and 'where did this come from', was probably the only thought floating around in her head at that moment. She blinked her eyes a few times and then realized that since the image of the little girl didn't go away, that she also looked almost exactly like Duo. Then she noticed Deathscythe in her hands, the doll Hildie gave Duo for his sixteenth birthday.  
  
"Uno…say 'Hi' to Hildie. She's my girlfriend." Duo winked at Hildie, trying to cool her off.  
  
"Hewwo." Uno yawned after she spoke, barely covering her mouth. She then turned back to Duo.  
  
"What is it sweetie?"  
  
"I'm hungwy."  
  
"Duo…she's—"  
  
"Cute, ain't she?" Duo smiled and faced Hildie with the biggest grin on his face.  
  
"But…is she really your—"  
  
"No! No, no, no. I found her on the streets during that rainstorm we had…yesterday it was. Yeah, yesterday we took her in. She's only five years old and she's lost her parents to the White Fang war we fought in when she was three and a half. I had to take her in. Even Quatre couldn't bare to see how the war made more orphans like myself." Uno hugged Duo and he lifted her up.  
  
"…Well…she does look like you. Did you make her braid for her?"  
  
"Yup, she loves it. She even loves wearing my old orphan clothes! But I don't have much of it left. The church didn't really have much unharmed after the destruction. This and another outfit is all I have left."  
  
"Well...how about, in place of the movie…" Hildie began, wishing she had the day with Duo all by herself. "We go to the mall and get her some clothes."  
  
"Great idea Hildie! You can help better than I can anyways!" Duo cheerfully smiled at her.  
  
Hildie at first was on the verge of weak-friendship with Uno, but when she saw Uno and Duo talk to each other like a family, it hit her that Duo had something more to him than what looked.  
  
"You hungwy?" Uno nodded. "Wanna' git somethin' to eat?"  
  
Uno nodded like the age she was, the braid flipping through the air.  
  
"Yeah?" Nodded again, Uno rubbed her eyes as well. "And another bathe?"  
  
Uno shook her head.  
  
"No? Well then you can't get new clothes." Uno frowned, Duo played with her on and on, knowing how little kids didn't like to bathe very often. Hildie was watching and couldn't help but smile and giggle at the site. Duo with a child, about near the age of what would be their own, which she was pondering about even more. Duo glanced at Hildie and continued talking silently to Uno.  
  
"No? Yes? You sure? How about you give Hildie a hug, hmm? Okay?" Duo stepped over to Hildie, allowing Uno to half hug her and return to Duo. Duo smiled.  
  
"Duo…I have an idea. How about we go out and get something to eat, for her as well…my treat."  
  
"Really Hildie! Alright!"

"I'm treating her…I had trouble affording for you last time."  
  
"Aw, c'mon Hildie, I'm hungry too!"  
  
"Very well Duo…you can join too." Hildie smiled, once again loosing to the God of Death.  
  
"Alright!" Duo hugged Uno once again, happy that he had his girlfriend and 'child' making friends. "Hey Hildie, guess what babe, Uno here is going to be the next Shinimegami. Ain't that right, Sweetie?"  
  
"Duo…" Hildie couldn't help but smirk. "What if there's not a war by that time?"  
  
"Well…we wouldn't know now would we? And besides…before she came into the room, Quatre and I agreed that each of us, Wufei too if we could get him too, teach her a little of each of us 'til she gets all she can from every one of the Gundam pilots."  
  
"And what about Zechs? And Noin?"

"…We'll try them as well…that is if we can find them." Hildie shook her head, hearing what Duo has planned for little Uno.  
  
"Wu-man!" Uno tight smiled, showing Asian features, however, none were really there to be shown.  
  
"Te-he! She's taking that over while I just call him Wu!" Duo did his smile and caused Uno to giggle. "You know, I even taught her to read last nigh as well. For her age, she's learning pretty darn fast. She's already read all of 'The Little Train'; of course with errors in it, but at least she's trying! That's why her speech is off. But we first found out she couldn't speak when she said 'Wu-Fay'."  
  
"Wufay." Uno hugged Duo's neck.  
  
"See!" Duo smiled as Hildie shook her head.  
  
"So you're serious about her Duo, I mean…you know."  
  
"As if she were my child." Duo said seriously, which Hildie has only heard once before as he was asking for her hand in a relationship, not yet engagement. Hildie's eyes silent 'awed' at this as Duo kept his stern face, telling Hildie he wasn't lying and that he had already felt something for Uno that moment and before.  
  
"Hildie, since I saw her pushed down in the middle of the street in the rain by the storeowner, I felt pity on her. But when I found out that the battle we fought in again the White Fang had killed her parent that she's seen die, and change her beliefs into Shinigami, I literally fell to take her in as mine."  
  
"Duo…" Hildie's voice trailed off, noting Duo's seriously stern but yet calm and soothing voice rests her sorrow and make her cry; however, she kept it in. "Duo…why don't you adopt her then?"  
  
"I don't have the money too. And if I ask Quatre, he'd want part in it, but I feel the pain she has cuz' I had been down that very same road that she's traveling down now." Uno laid her head on Duo's shoulder as he adjusted his arms with her; she was resting her head on his shoulder and hugging the stuffed Deathscythe as if she were about to fall back asleep, the warmth of his arms calming her body and relaxing her.  
  
"I mean, look at this. She's been asking for a hug almost every chance she gets, and it's all because she had never had anyone give her love before."  
  
"Duo…what if I help pay."  
  
"What do you mean…help pay?"  
  
"I will lend you the money as long as you give me some share into this. Raising a child, whether it's a boy or a girl, will take both a mother and a father to do; the mother to teach her basic skills for house and love, and the father to teach her skills of fun and work; education along with it."  
  
"Hildie…are you saying—"  
  
"She'll live with you, but I get help in raising her as well. And when you may need time alone or when I see that you may do, I'll take her in for a while, you know, as a parent would."  
  
"Well…she's still becoming Shinimegami."  
  
"Yes…you and the rest can teach her all she needs." Hildie had to smile at that; she knew Duo wouldn't be able to hold out that long, though it was longer than when he asked for her.  
  
"So…you're seriously going to help me? We're not even married and you're willing to help me take on the care of a child. Are you sure Hildie?"  
  
"Well…Duo, if I didn't, and still wanted to, think of how I would have a hard time trying to cheer you up when the law and government takes her away from you because you don't have legal custardy on her. I would be downhearted…but you, trust me Duo, you'd never see her again if you didn't and they found out."  
  
Duo smiled and stepped in for a kiss. "Thanks babe. You're a life saver."  
  
"Duo." Hildie blushed, rubbing the backside of her hand on Uno's face.  
  
"A Cheery Life Saver." Duo said in remark to cheer her up.  
  
"Duo…good grief." Hildie couldn't help but laugh, it was worth it. "Look at that, she's asleep again."  
  
"Hm…guess she didn't have enough before." Duo began to walk to his room but stopped when  Hildie placed her hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Duo…it's the fact that someone's actually holding her and loves her." Hildie kissed Duo on the lips, pressing her saltiness against his and being sure they don't wake Uno.  
  
"…Get a room will you." Wufei rolled his eyes as he walked by to his room. Duo wanted to flick him off, but couldn't due to holding Uno.  
  
In replacement of that, Hildie whispered in his ears. "Let's get ready and I bet she'll be awake by then."


	3. Heero's Training

Duo's Child

Chapter 3

A few weeks passed and Hildie and Duo finally straightened out all the papers from court on Uno. Uno was now officially Duo's child. Duo was extremely happy that he got what he wanted and as for Uno…she couldn't be happier.  
  
"Hey Uno…" Began Duo holding her hand walking through the halls to the backyard where Quatre was with WuFei. "Why don't you go play outside with Quatre and WuFei?"  
  
"Wu-man!" Uno perked and ran outside to play.  
  
As Duo shut the door, a small 'Maxwell's Twin!' echoed through the air from WuFei, followed by a loud 'Wu-Man!' Duo smirked as he walked away.  
  
Heh, that's my Uno, torment WuFei just like me, heh heh. Thought Duo as he searched the rooms for the typist of the group. Finally he found Heero sitting in the kitchen, eating a sandwich and typing as usual.  
  
Duo inhaled deeply then spoke up. "HEE-CHAN!"  
  
Heero stopped typing, expecting arms thrown at him and said nothing more then his usual 'Hn?'  
  
"I have a little question to ask of you…or a favor…pwease?" Duo's eyes tightened, smiling a big grin.  
  
"…What do you want?"  
  
"Well…how old were you when you first trained to be the 'O-so-Perfect- Soldier?"  
  
"It's too early for Uno to train."  
  
"No! It's not too early…is it?" Duo let go and sat in the seat next to Heero. Heero nodded.  
  
"But…she acts just like me!"  
  
"Then you train her." Heero shut his laptop and faced him. "Can she hold a gun yet?"  
  
"Uh…erm…I…don't think so."  
  
"My point exactly." Heero stood up, beginning to walk away.  
  
"But…but…at least give it a shot! Hey, if there's a war in the future and we're too old to fight…or not even that far in but one of us or all of us are dead…she's the next Gundam Pilot!" This caused Heero to stop dead; there have been people trying to kill them, him especially.  
  
"I mean…come on…she'll be the God of ALL Gundam Pilots if she is successful."  
  
"If she fails in one week, then I will wait until she's older. But if she can accomplish it, then who will be next?" Heero faced him.  
  
"Me!" Duo stood. "We'll go in order…you get me?"  
  
Duo wrapped his arm around Heero's neck as they walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.  
  
"We'll go in order as each pilot's number…alright?"  
  
"And WuFei? After the way you two treat him, I doubt he wants any part in it at all."  
  
"That's something we'll deal with then. But I'm pretty sure by then WuFei'll change his mind about her." Uno ran up to Duo and hid behind him. WuFei stormed in covered in dry mud, charging and stopping in front of Duo. He was pissed.  
  
"Change his mind? Hn." Heero walked off, letting the fight begin.  
  
"Maxwell! You're little baka kid tried to attack me and forced me into mud!" WuFei shouted. "Look at me now! Look at what that stupid onna did to me!"  
  
"WuFei…Uno probably didn't mean it..I—"  
  
"Are taking the pain! You keep that damn girl out of my sight and you live! Got it Maxwell!" WuFei left angry, storming by Heero who was leaning on the wall.  
  
"Uno…" Duo knelt besides her; she was covered in mud too. "What did you do to him?"  
  
"He chased me and I slipped."  
  
"What about WuFei?"  
  
"I gwabbed him so I wouldn't fall in all the mud…but…"  
  
"You caused him to fall too…bad idea to bring WuFei down too Honey." Uno pouted as Duo hugged her. "Well…guess I gotta' get you cleaned up now."  
  
Duo lifted her up on his arm and looked at Heero. Heero stood and began to walk away.  
  
"Two hours, Ill be waiting at the gun range outside."  
  
"Yeah…I gotta' tell Uno that now." Duo began to the bathroom and Uno tried to pick the dirt out of her braid already. "Come on Sweetie…let's go clean, okay?"  
  
Uno slid off of Duo and began to undress as he started the tub waters. He still had to bathe her, she wasn't old enough to help herself much and besides that, her hair would take two people until she learned how to on her own as Duo does. Uno stepped in the tub and wet her hair, watching Duo take the strawberry shampoo and lather his hands, then her hair.  
  
"Uno sweetie…after this, Heero's gonna' teach you how to hold a gun. Okay?" Duo massaged her head and rubbed in the shampoo. "Try your hardest with him, alright? Heero probably won't go easy on you, so I want to you use all you can. Kay?"  
  
"Why?" She splashed the water from the tub onto her face, cleaning it and began to bather her body.  
  
"Well…we're pilots and we want you to become one too—"  
  
"Shinimegami!" Uno smiled and Duo couldn't help but smile back.  
  
"Yup, you'll become the next God-err…Goddess of Death." Duo took some foamy shampoo on his finger and dabbed it on Uno's nose, who looked at him innocent. "Cutie."  
  
Uno smiled and dunked herself again, knowing Duo was finished as she was. Duo stood and gave her a towel as she stepped out. Her hair matted along the towel, wet strands dripping with water as Duo unplugged the tub.  
  
"Come on…go dress in something that would be comfortable for your training. Alright?" Uno nodded and ran off to their closet. They shared a room for now until she grew older and the same closet; he split it in two, one his and the other hers.  
  
After Duo finished cleaning the mess from the mud and called for her to return, she came back dressed in a black tank top and black jeans. The color she adapted from Duo to be her new fab. Uno stood in front of the mirror again and watched Duo brush her hair, then braid it back up.  
  
"Uno…have you been reading those books I had Quatre buy for you?"  
  
Uno nodded. "Yes."  
  
"I can tell, you're speech has improved." Duo tied the end and she faced him. "You still don't talk that much though…are you alright?"  
  
"…Yes…" Uno looked at him, her face beginning to form differently. Duo didn't want to see it now, especially if her training with Heero was next in line. She would have a tough time if so.  
  
"Come on, we have half an hour left before you begin. Lets go visit Trowa, okay?" Uno nodded and hopped on Duo's back for another piggyback ride.  
  
Trowa looked up as he saw the Library door open and two braided people peek in and smile at him. He had to smirk back; Uno sitting on top of Duo was too much to frown at. Besides, he and Quatre enjoyed having a little kid around the house.  
  
"Hi." Uno smiled innocently as Duo shut the door.  
  
"Hey Trowa, sup man?" Duo put Uno down as she looked around. This was her second time to be in the Library, which was rather huge for an inside room. Duo sat down across from Trowa.  
  
"Uno has training with Heero in less than half an hour."  
  
"Oh?" Trowa looked at her as she wandered the book-covered aisles, looking up at its height.  
  
"Yeah, she's gonna' become Shinimegami if we can't fight in another battle in the future. Since you're pilot 03, you'll be later on."  
  
"How are you going to get WuFei to help?" Duo shut up, remembering the earlier incident. "…I'll wait until the time comes."  
  
"Alright." Trowa saw Uno crawl up and sit on Duo's lap. She looked at the book he put down and looked at him questionably.  
  
"It's Aero Aerobics, a type of gymnastic form." She still didn't understand. "You'll see."  
  
"Come on Honey, lets' let Trowa finish reading and get a head start to the training, kay?" Uno hopped off and held out for Duo's hand, which he gladly took  
  
Heero was testing each gun to see if it had blanks and found the lightest one Uno will have to use for now. It was still somewhat heavy, but it was the lightest they held. The door to the range opened and Duo and Uno stepped in, early…it was unlike Duo, but perhaps he's training Uno. Quatre had a gun range in his mansion, but vowed not to tell about it until Heero stumbled across it; he thought it was bad for them to continue training to fight.  
  
"We're here!" Duo smiled as Uno looked around.  
  
"That's amazing, you're early." Heero looked at Uno. "Leave her be."  
  
"Huh?" Duo looked down. "But…okay. Uno?"  
  
"Huh?" Uno looked at Duo as he knelt to her.  
  
"Be tough, Heero won't be easy on you. So give him all you got, okay?" Uno nodded. "Good luck, kid."  
  
Before Duo could stand, Uno hugged him. Heero smirked then watched as Duo left. He then looked back down to Uno.  
  
"Can you hold this?" He handed her the gun. She took it from his hands and held it tightly, her hands dropping and hanging.  
  
"I'll try…"  
  
"Don't try, do it. That's what Duo lacks is the knowledge of knowing how to do something over doing it." Uno looked up at him and looked innocent. "Lift it up."  
  
"…" She did and pointed it at Heero's stomach, which he quickly got out of way. He then pointed her to the targets at the end of the yard. Her fingers held tightly onto the handle, her index on the trigger.  
  
"Don't shoot until you feel it's time." Uno nodded; Heero felt she had to know the main secret about being a Perfect Soldier. "Uno."  
  
"Huh?" She lowered the gun and faced him.  
  
"Try not to show much emotion; however, act on it." She didn't understand. "Act on your emotions. That is the easiest way to live."  
  
"…Alright." She lifted the gun again and pointed it to the target.  
  
"Go ahead and shoot, let me see where you shoot to begin with." Uno shot and Heero noticed it was in the chest area, right near the bull's-eye. He smirked.  
  
"Not bad." He faced her as she still held target. "Fire more."  
  
"…Kay…" Her face turned serious as she fired her next few rounds.  
  
"Hn…" Heero noticed her expression and left his as usual. She was ready for his training.  
  
"Uno…now let go of your other hand and see if you can hold it with one." She tied but couldn't hold it. "Two is fine for now, but at the end of the week, I want you to use one."  
  
Heero walked away and Uno followed. He headed for the obstacle section he trained some with. To Uno, it looked like a big playground, it had the usual park sections and more: tires placed out, tires hanging forming a tube, a rope climbing wall, a rope bridge, a gun section at the end, and a track at the end with a flag on the back wall. It looked like the Army's training course. Uno looked up to him.  
  
"At the end of the week, I expect you to complete this entire thing in less than two minutes."  
  
"…But…that's too fast for me."  
  
"It will be, or you won't be able to go on to Duo's training. We discussed it, not until you complete it with me first."  
  
"…But…I'm not strong enough…." Uno frowned and looked up to him.  
  
"Then we'll work on that, but you have only one week, now lets go back to the gun range." Uno walked head down, to the guns and turned around to Heero. "By Friday, you will have this timed and if you make it in less than two minutes, you passed. That leaves you four days after this one."  
  
Uno looked unhappy and lifted the gun again. Heero began on teaching her the parts of the gun and how to fire properly, sure not to miss.  
  
That night, Duo stepped into his room and found Uno spread out and sleeping on his bed, he smirked some and walked up to her.  
  
"Hey Uno…wake up Honey…" Uno's eyes opened slowly and she managed a small smile. "Heero's training tough?"  
  
"He wants me to do his training in less than two minutes by Fwiday…and I can't even hold a gun in one hand." Uno sat up and hugged Duo as he sat besides her.  
  
"Well…there's Heero for you. Don't worry; once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you will have no trouble. I won't be easy on you either Uno." She looked at him. "Yeah…so don't think I will, 'cuz I won't…and about WuFei…"  
  
"Wu-man?"  
  
"Yeah…try not to torment him much more. Trust me, I know it's fun…I love doing it still, but if we need him to train you later on, try to suck up to him. Kay?" Uno nodded. "Heero told me for your first shot, you almost hit the bulls-eye."  
  
"Hm…" Uno smiled.  
  
"That's not bad, I can't even hit near it. I usually miss." Uno yawned. "Let's go to sleep, and tomorrow, try again and hopefully you'll beat his ass to what he doesn't know—oops."  
  
"Hm…" Uno sat up and looked at him smirking. "Potty mouth…"  
  
"…I better not catch you saying that…" Uno shook her head. "Good, now lets get to sleep."  
  
Tuesday went rough on Uno as well. Heero continued training her on rifles and when he felt she has completed that part, he showed her to the weight room. There, he had her bench press the bar for a starter. Later added five pounds to each side and helped her some, holding the bar from the middle.  
  
"So far you're lifting fifteen pounds. For five years old and a female, that's great." Heero looked over and saw Trowa watching.  
  
"I found a light bar in the closet, I guess Quatre began on this one as well."  
  
Heero lifted the bar off her and set it down on the rack. Uno sat up and took the water bottle he handed her and drank. Three more days, and if she passed, her favorite training would come: Duo's Training.  
  
Uno sighed and shut her eyes. Heero smirked and walked over to Trowa, speaking back to Uno.  
  
"Try throwing punches to the bag, I'll be there in a second to help you." He could hear the water bottle being placed down on the table.  
  
"So…you're teaching her how to be the Perfect Soldier? Not bad." Heero nodded. "She already looks serious just punching the bag."  
  
"I taught her the motivations that help me stay alive."  
  
"Oh yeah? What's that?"  
  
"Acting on your emotions. So far, it seems she has the hang of it." Heero turned to her direction and continued. "Only she may not be able to complete the training in time to go on to Duo's."  
  
"Why go in order?"  
  
"Duo's idea. Personally, I think he should be first."  
  
"Quatre's more than happy about helping train her." Heero faced him again. "He decided he's going to teach her basic skills of being a leader and throw in some manner tips as well."  
  
"…Duo should join that as well…he's slumps at dinner."  
  
"Yeah…I'll be teaching her flexibility and balance."  
  
"Hn…"  
  
"WuFei…who knows at this point."  
  
"I'm wondering what Duo has planned for her training. Knowing Duo, it can't be much."  
  
"Hm…almost makes you think Duo's hiding something."  
  
"Hm…Uno's training will be finished at six. Tell Quatre that we may take longer, she needs to hold a gun in one hand by Friday and she's just now able to lift five pounds in each."  
  
"Alright. Good luck to the both of you."  
  
"Hn…" Heero turned as Trowa left, seeing Uno punch the bag enough times to make her knuckles red. "Uno…come here."  
  
Duo walked up to the couch, expecting Heero to be napping from his laptop and found Uno resting. He smirked. He didn't expect her to be here as well as in his room the day before. Without waking her, he lifted her up and carried her into his room.  
  
Wednesday came and Heero was telling her about the track part. Uno was speechless. He wanted her to run three miles in fifteen minutes at max. Her eyes were wide.  
  
"If you don't make it in time, I suggest practicing the rest of the week when training isn't in place."  
  
"…But you said by Fwiday, I have to end this."  
  
"If I see you made progress, then I will extend it. If not, then it's over." Uno straightened her face and watched Heero aim ready. As he ran, she watched the speed of his feet and watched him complete one mile half way already.  
  
She knelt down and fixed her shoes. When Heero returned after his run, he looked at her and spoke.  
  
"Now, in just a second, run as fast as you can, but don't speed run just yet. Always save the speed run for an emergency." Heero set the timer and looked at the track. "…Go."  
  
And with that, Uno ran. Heero watched her run and the clock speed by. Uno ran around each curve and turn and hopped over a few things that blew out in front of her. He subtracted about a second for each hop; she deserved that much after all the strength she put into the training. As she came nearer, he looked back down at the watch. When she ran past him and fell over backwards onto the ground, breathing heavy, he spoke.  
  
"Fifteen minutes flat, just in time." He looked down at her; her eyes were shut tightly, trying to ignore the pains. He smirked and tilted the water bottle to her lips, allowing her to drink and rest.  
  
"You need more practice, you tried too hard to beat the clock. You won't always be able to rest afterward if in a battle." Uno whimpered. Already, she was acting older that her age showed. When he was five, he may have been killing people, but he couldn't do half the things that Uno showed herself able to do already. He smirked.  
  
"…Practice is over for today."  
  
"Huh?" Uno sat up fast and watched as he walked away. "No it isn't…you're lying…"  
  
"Do you want me too?"  
  
"Huh?" She tried to stand, but a sudden headache held her down.  
  
"You already proved yourself better than I was at five. Unless you want me to help you some more today, you're free."  
  
"No…I'm not stwong enough." He stopped and faced her, smirking as she tried to stand.  
  
"I'll meet you in the weight room in one hour. Rest until then."  
  
And with that, he left. Uno fell backwards and faced the sky, smiling. She has proved herself better than he was at her age. She felt proud, only she couldn't show it.  
  
Duo stepped into the kitchen that night and saw Uno eating cereal. Heero sat besides her typing.  
  
"Hey Uno…how was training today?" Duo grabbed a canned soda from the fridge and opened it.  
  
"I finished a long time ago." He looked at her puzzled as he drank. "Heewo said I didn't need much more."  
  
"No?"  
  
"She's better than I was at her age. I figured if she kept in training, ten years later she'd be better than all of us together." Without looking up, Heero spoke.  
  
"Wow…go Uno." Uno smiled and she slid off the chair and handed her bowl to Duo. He placed it in the sink and soaked it.  
  
"So…then what did you do all day?"  
  
"Heewo helped me get stwonger."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"She needs to learn how to hold a gun in one hand than both."  
  
"Oh…" Duo saw her rub her eyes. "Go get ready and I'll be there in a second to tuck you in, aright?"  
  
"Kay." Uno hugged Duo and ran off to the room. Heero looked up as Duo sat where Uno left.  
  
"Man Heero…how good is she so far? I was beginning to think you were too tough for her first trainee."  
  
"…Hn…she's fast."  
  
"Yeah? Heh heh, good, 'cuz with me, she'll need it."  
  
"What are you going to teach her?"  
  
"I'm not so sure yet…but we have to see if she passes your test in two days first."  
  
"Hn…she may pull it off."  
  
"That's my little Uno. Beating Heero for her age." Duo smiled and drank more.  
  
Thursday, the day before the final test and Uno was now in training of speed and strength combined: The obstacle course. Heero already went through it, and then explained it to her. As she watched him pull through the course, she paid close attention to the tactics he used for the moves. He hopped through each tire like nothing, dove through the tire tubes and rolled right on, the ropes, everything…he was perfect. When he returned, he was in good timing too: one minute and twenty-six seconds. Figures, he was the Perfect Soldier.  
  
Heero began the clock and told her once more, the deal with the course and how to take it. He was sure he covered everything.  
  
"…Go." Heero started the clock as Uno ran off, rope climbing the wall first then the tires after wards. He watched her as she fell a few times around the rope bridge but quickly regained herself at the rope glide across the water; tucking her legs and feet in as the water splashed her bottom. As she finished that part, she ran for the tire tube and dove in, having to crawl and summersault coming out. She dove downward for the crawl and grew close to the end. When she stood back up, she withdrew her gun from her back as Heero told her the best place to hold it, and began shooting and running to the end, firing at all the targets and missing but a few. She slipped her gun back in the band of her pants and ran, diving headfirst for the finish line and landing on her feet, looking around fanatically for Heero.  
  
"Not bad…but you're five minutes later than I was." Heero emerged from behind her and spoke. "I noticed you had trouble around the nets…you'll get the hang of it eventually, it's just a matter of coordination. You missed a few targets, but don't worry…if they were you're enemy, they would be running after you and get in your way. An easier way to defeat them."  
  
"Was I good though?" Uno stood up and withdrew the gun again, handing it back to him.  
  
"You need more practice before tomorrow, but I believe you have it under control. You hold on to the gun. Be sure it's empty and try practicing tonight on holding the gun in one hand. Unless you've forgotten, tomorrow I want to see you holding it with one hand and firing it either in the head area or chest area. You don't need to get a bulls-eye yet." Heero walked off. Cleaning the clock's time and leaving Uno there alone.  
  
That night, Duo stepped into his room to find Uno facing the mirror and struggling to hold the gun up with one hand. However, she struggled and it aimed more along the lines of the corners of the carpet and wall. Duo smirked and shut the door.  
  
"This is hard…" Said Uno, obviously struggling to keep the gun up.  
  
"Do your best. You're only five years old and already you're kicking butt. You don't act the age you are Uno, you're more mature it seems."  
  
"…" Uno stared into the mirror and finally found strength to lift the gun.  
  
"Is that gun empty?" Uno nodded. "Good, don't want Quatre to have a fit seeing a bullet hole in his house.  
  
"Heewo wouldn't let me pass then."  
  
"…True." Uno put the gun on the bed and hugged Duo. "Tired?"  
  
Uno nodded as he sighed. He knelt down and hugged her again. He felt her arms some.  
  
"Well…ya' got more beefy." He smiled at her. "Trowa tells me you're lifting fifteen pounds."  
  
"It's hard." Uno backed away enough to face him. "It huwts."  
  
"Don't worry. Just keep training for at least another ten years, and by the time you're fifteen, you'll be stronger than us." Uno frowned at him. "I'm joking…but ya' do need to practice everyday on what you learned until you get better. Okay? You may be good now, but if you stop, then you'll stay like this forever and maybe get weaker."  
  
"Tomowwow is my test."  
  
"Yeah? Well…good luck Uno…you'll be needing it."  
  
Friday, Uno has her test with Heero's training and she's stretching as he walks through the door. Surprised to see she's already there, Duo usually runs late when he has to test against Heero.  
  
"Uno." Said Heero walking up to her. "Lift the gun."  
  
Uno smirked. She didn't know this was right away. She reached around behind her for the gun and brought it out to him. Heero lifted it up and installed bullets inside, then handed it back to her. It was heavier.  
  
"Fire at the targets as I spoke of yesterday."  
  
Uno faced the targets and aimed, struggling to steady the gun in one hand. She fired, but missed the first shot completely. Instead, she hit the fence behind it and left a neat little hold to it's left. Uno shrieked.  
  
"Try it again and this time, be serious about it." Heero looked down on her. She wasn't serious, she was wrong in that area just then.  
  
"…" Lifting the rifle and aiming, Uno shot and hit the head a few times.  
  
"Hn…now try finishing out the round on what you believe would kill someone." Heero folded his arms, watching her.  
  
"Hm…" Uno nodded and continued firing, changing the gun between hands during shots, and emptying the round right there. She shot out the head then moved to the chest area. When the gun clicked empty, she lowered it and faced him again.  
  
"Hn…" He walked to the obstacle course and looked at her, handing her another clip. "Load the gun, I taught you how."  
  
Uno nodded and began to load the clip. She tucked it behind her pants again and aimed down, waiting for him to say 'Go'. He cleared the clock and cleared his throat; she almost took that as a 'go' and jumped a little. She was nervous; she didn't want to fail this and make Duo unhappy. Duo was her best friend, she didn't want to see him unhappy that she couldn't accomplish what he wanted her to become, the Goddess of Death.  
  
It wasn't until Heero spoke that she was kicked back into reality. "Try and focus on this part, think ahead. You're stressed out, don't worry…take these as they come, I've added in a few extra punts to the course to get you moving faster. Your eyes wander once, you will fail, so pay attention."  
  
Uno nodded and got ready. Heero spoke up once more and looked at her.  
  
"…Go." And with that, Uno was history. He watched as she climbed up the wall, passing the slickness he created for her like it was nothing. Probably didn't notice it… Passing through the tire steps the managing to not fall on the rope bridge this time. Must have been practicing… After she flew across the water, spraying only little ways on her back, she ran fast for the tire tube and dove, somehow actually diving through it and rolling when she landed on the other side. She sped up and slid down inside the crevice she had to crawl in, crawling the rest and drawing her gun as she stood, already beginning to fire at the targets. She took her time, but still fled past each one like nothing, making sure she took each one down with the bullets. Running even faster, she put the gun back in the band and dove at the finish line, rolling and landing on her feet, once again searching for Heero.  
  
Heero stepped up thinking. Had she actually been practicing when I said so?  
  
"Well?" Uno stood and looked at him.  
  
"…Hn…" She looked down unhappy. "One minute and forty eight seconds. Good timing."  
  
"Really?!" Uno jumped up and Heero nodded. "Yay!"  
  
She grabbed him for a hug and ran off for Duo.  
  
She's worse than Duo…she hides her feelings then shows them at the end like a maniac. Heero watched her run off.  
  
Duo was sitting on the couch, watching television when someone suddenly grabbed his neck from behind. He jumped, but when he felt the tiny peck on his neck, he relaxed.  
  
"How did you do Uno?" Uno sat in his lap and hugged him. "Well?"  
  
"I beat it in one minute and forty eight seconds."  
  
"Great Uno! Which means I'm next!" Duo smiled.  
  
"Yup!" Uno hugged him tight and Duo shut off the television. "Let's get to bed now."  
  
"Kay…" Uno yawned as Duo lifted her up into his arms and carried her away. He passed Quatre in the halls.  
  
"Hey Duo…how did she do?"  
  
"She passed, now I gotta' think of what I'll train her."  
  
Quatre smiled. "That's great Uno! Duo, teach her the meanings of the God of Death."  
  
"Yeah…but what else?" Asked Duo, WuFei walking by and staring at Uno and Duo disgusted.  
  
"…That's a tough one…I'm sure you'll come up with something soon. If not, I'm sure I can by then…for beginners, how about sneaking methods and speed?"  
  
"Alright, well…we're heading for the sack…see ya' later." Duo waved off.  
  
"Good…leave. Two Maxwell's are enough."  
  
Before Duo turned the corner, he faced WuFei. Uno gave off Heero's 'Death glare' and shut him up. Duo noticed and smiled. This is good, she can put WuFei in his spot for me and her sake as well. Duo began off.  
  
"By Cat-wa." Uno said and smiled. She then waves her fingers as her age would and Duo carried her off. Quatre couldn't help but giggle at that.  
  
"Cute…she's so cute."


	4. Duo's Training

Duo's Child

Chapter 4

Uno walked down the hallway on Monday morning to the living room where Duo would most likely be. Just two days ago, she completed Heero's training and Duo's was next—today. She reached the living room and saw no one but Quatre and Trowa sitting on the couch. She stepped up to them.  
  
"Uno!" Quatre smile.  
  
"Hi Cat-wa." Uno smile and Quatre lifted her up on his lap. Trowa smirked.  
  
"Duo said he'd be back in a couple of minutes. He went out to get you something." Quatre hugged her; he so wished she was his child.  
  
"Hey little one." Trowa spoke up. "You still reading those books Quatre and I got for you?"  
  
"Uh huh." Uno nodded.  
  
"Which one are you on now?"  
  
Uno stayed silent in thought for a few seconds before replying to Quatre's question. She then looked up at them and shook her head.  
  
"You may be in training right now, but you still need to read them…okay?" She nodded. "Even though you're strong for your age, you don't want to become stupid. Do you?"  
  
"…" Uno shook her head, her braid whipping around.  
  
"She's too much like Duo." Trowa smiled at her braid.  
  
"I know…but she's so cute!" Quatre hugged her again and smiled. "So, you think you're ready for Duo's training?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"What did Duo say he was going to train her in?" Trowa leaned back, looking at Uno.  
  
"I don't know…he doesn't really know yet, either. There's not really that much he can train her to be that he knows of."  
  
"…"  
  
"Uno!"  
  
Uno spun around and saw Duo at the doorway of the living room. Quickly, she got off Quatre and ran to Duo, arms wide open.  
  
"Duo!" He hugged her and looked at her eye to eye, kneeling on the ground.  
  
"Uno…I got ya' something!" Uno backed away from him and watched as he brought his hand around to his back and returned it with a little box. "It's a toy, G I Joe!"  
  
"…" Uno looked at it and at the pictures. Then hugged Duo.  
  
"So whenever you don't have training and you want to play for a change- since I read with you-you can play!"  
  
"Yay." Uno smiled.  
  
"Duo…you bought her a G I Joe?" Duo stepped into the room near Quatre.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"…But she's a girl…why not a Barbie or anything like that?"  
  
"Ewww…Quatre! Uno is in training to be a cold-blooded ruthless killer at the moment! The last thing she needs is to be sabotaged by…preppy…incest…toys that…live by…love and…peace." Duo acted as if he were about to throw up just thinking of the living Barbie they knew-Relena.  
  
Uno sat down on the floor, already playing with the G I Joes that were in the box, already acting like they were in a war.  
  
"Look at that…already she thinks life's a war." Duo smiled and knelt down besides Uno. Uno looked up.  
  
"Uno sweetie, why don't you put those away and get dressed. You're about to start training with me in ten minutes. So, go dress and come back here when you're done, okay?" Uno nodded, smiled, and stood to hug him. She then put the G I Joes back in the box and ran off with them.  
  
"…Cute." Quatre smiled and looked back at Duo. "So Duo…what will your training be to take place the entire week?"  
  
"And the test Friday?" Trowa added in.  
  
"…Now ya' just had to remind me that it was this long, didn't 'cha?" Duo sighed and put his arms behind his head. "At the moment…just lock picking…stealth speed-ya' know, like super fast and super quiet-how to steal and not leave a trace of evidence behind…"  
  
"Oh…thief rules." Quatre didn't look happy and stood alongside with Trowa.  
  
"…And pigging out and having to be annoying as everyone says-but I say that's being cheerful!" Duo smiled. "Hell, after having Heero's intense training, she has to have mine to tell her it's quite alright to be happy at all times."  
  
"…Duo. You need more."  
  
"But like what! Geeze', I didn't think it'll be that hard to train someone. Lock picking isn't just something that someone can learn in one day you know. Took me a few weeks to understand how to do it."  
  
"But didn't you say that Uno's already over achieved her goals she had with Heero? She may be better with you as well."  
  
"Quatre, let's let Duo decide." Trowa hugged Quatre from behind. Uno stepped into the room and Duo looked at her.  
  
"Uno sweetie, ya' ready?" She nodded heavily; braid flipping all around. "Alright…step one: Race to the kitchen…. go!" And with that, they both ran into the kitchen.  
  
"…Pigging out already?"  
  
"…Well, that's Duo for you." Quatre smiled and walked with Trowa to the library.  
  
In the kitchen sat Uno on her knees and Duo besides her, eating cereal. Lucky Charms was the choice he chose and Uno was already pigging out just as he.  
  
"See Uno…" Duo swallowed. "Your first step in my training is, learning how to eat."  
  
"…But Duo…I know how to eat." Uno's questionable face made Duo pause and smile. She was just too cute with her little questions.  
  
"…I mean…eating fast. Ya' never know when you'll be attacked, so it's best to remain on guard at all times. And besides, they say you can't do much on an empty tummy. So therefore, try and finish rather quickly. Once you feel it hurt, then you can stop. But never stop until you feel it or you run out. Got it?"  
  
"…" Uno nodded as she ate.  
  
"Good, part of your test will be to see how fast you can…'pig out'. Also, they say it's bad to do anything on a completely full tummy too, so to prevent this, don't stuff yourself too much, okay? You can, but if you go slow then move the pace a lil', you're accomplish it like nothing."  
  
"Me done." Uno smiled as she pushed her bowl away.  
  
"Uno…you still hungry?" She nodded a little. "Then more you eat." Duo poured more Lucky Charms in her cereal and milk after, then handed her back the bowl. She began to pig out again.  
  
About an hour after eating their big breakfast of nothing but Lucky Charms, Duo stood and put the dishes away in the sink, then turned to Uno.  
  
"Also…drink as much milk as you can. Don't want to have you breaking bones that fast." Duo left the kitchen with Uno trailing behind and headed into the office.  
  
Quatre had another office created just for him. He knew Duo when it came to fun time and needed another office so Duo could use the old one to mess around in. Quatre also didn't trust Duo going into his computer for porn. Quatre was innocent, but Duo displayed the wrong image of Quatre on his computer, making Quatre seem like a lying porn fanatic.  
  
"Uno…" Duo looked at her as he withdrew a small leather bounded wrap-up and unfolded it. "These are lock picking tools."  
  
Uno looked at them. To her, they looked like thin pieces of metal, like pins and screwdrivers.  
  
"Now, the reason why I'm teaching you this now, is because it took me weeks to learn how to do this professionally. Now since you've mastered just about all of Heero's training, I took in account that you may do the same with mine. So I had you start the beginning of the week. Now we'll continue to train on this, but not much. I'll help if you want to practice it, but like I said, we won't train with it often, got it?"  
  
"Okay." Uno nodded and followed Duo to the door. He locked the door and stepped outside.  
  
"Okay…see it's locked, no way in. And we don't have a key." He tried the knob and nothing happened. "These are for lock picking. Once mastered, you can do anything that allows locking…well, just about. Heero'll have to teach you how to hack into locks on computers and such."  
  
Duo knelt down besides the door and looked at the utensils. "Alright, now in order to see which one you use for the lock, you measure it. See, this lock looks tiny and thin, but 'twisty-and-turny' looking." He picked up one of the mechanisms and looked at it with her.  
  
"Now you see, this one looks too fat and see…it doesn't go through to begin with." He showed her, trying to slide it inside the lock. "Now this one here, is thin and twisty…and it does go through, but notice…once you hit a spot you can't slide in any longer, try and see if you can move it about to look for a little switch button. Okay? You can't see or feel it, so you have to try and rely on the metal to rub against it and describe the outer forms. Got that?" Uno nodded again.  
  
"Now hand me the next one you think may work?" He put down the other besides him and watched as Uno lifted up each one. "That one doesn't work? Tell me why not."  
  
"…To fat and twisty."  
  
"…Good." He smiled. Twisty…she's just like me! "Now what about that one there? No? Why not?"  
  
"…Not twisty enough or stwaight enough."  
  
"Okay…now how about that smaller one there…think it'll fit?"  
  
"No…too showt."  
  
"Okay, now Uno. Look closer. The one we found that fits is long, thin, and twisted. Don't just look and decide; you have to try it out sometimes. Okay, now see…" Duo picked it up. "This one actually works. See? If you already have a long one…then the other may not be long, it may be short. Or you may get two long ones…or you may get two short ones. Most likely, it depends on the lock. Got it?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Good, now…hand it to me and I'll show you what to do now." Uno handed Duo the tools and he prepared. "Okay, now pay close attention. You see how I slid in the long one first? You must so that way you won't struggle with the second. Once you feel around inside for a little button, don't press it just yet, but keep in mind that it's there. Then with the other, slip that in and look for its button. Now, once you find the shorter one's button, press it, then press the further one and try and hold it there…now, Uno…question: When putting a key in a lock, do you open the door, turn it left, or turn it right?"  
  
"…You tuwn it wight."  
  
"Okay…so let's try right." The door didn't open. "Nope…this one must be left then. Not all locks are the same, you hear me Uno? Good. This lock opens on the left, so lets see." Duo twisted his fingers around and he heard a tiny faint click.  
  
"You hear that?" Uno nodded. "That means it worked and looky! It opened!" Duo smiled as he shut the door again and locked it.  
  
"Okay, now Uno. Not all locks open on the left. Front door locks are both. The top is called the dead bolt, and that opens in the direction the metal lock bar opens…inside the door. So if the door's opposite of this, then it's opposite then left, right. Got it? Good. Now the bottom lock on the front door is called the doorknob…much like this one and all the others-but not all have locks on them. Now, they can have either way to open them, depending on the lock inside it. Some old doorknobs with locks open the same as this one, but many new ones open opposite. There's a little something inside the door that is installed and whenever the key is turned to the right, as you see I'm showing you, inside the door, it slides like clock wheels and turns the metal lock bar inside the door. Kinda' tricky, but it's so many people can't break inside things. Now, to determine which way it turns, cuz' some old locks look like new ones, you have to be gentle when inserting the tools inside it's hole. See, on this one, the longer piece is slide into its spot over here on the left-the shorter one to the right-but not all are the same, remember that." Duo sat back and sat her in his lap, shuffling the utensils around. "Now see if you can do this without my help. Don't remember what I did to do this-it could be different. And keep in mind, that if this wasn't Quatre's house and you were doing this on a mission or something, there could be a trap set up to kill you if you make the wrong move…but I'll get more into that later. Okay?"  
  
"Okay…" Uno looked down at the utensils and brought up one that looked like it fit. It was skinny, twisted, but ridged. She put that down and took up one that was short and thin. She placed that on the side of her and Duo then looked back. She picked up two others that looked so identical to each other, but she knew there was something different in it. She stared. After a minute of searching for the answer, she noticed the tip; one was pointed like a screwdriver, the other was flat. She smiled and picked up the other then set to work. She slid the long one in, but on the wrong side then slid it over and further in. The shorter next and pressed it's button once she found it. She searched for the longer one's button, but had no luck. She continued to try. Finally, she managed to locate it-she wasn't feeling around as Duo had told her to-and pressed it. She thought about which way it turned. All the talk about the locks and turns made her forget-but that's what Duo wanted, right? She thought quickly and hard about it then looked at the metal lock bar inside the crevice. She tried left and began to turn it, and then the utensils fell out of her hands to the floor. She pouted.  
  
"Try again, Uno. You'll get the hang of it soon. You're hands are too small, but they'll develop into tougher ones before ya' know it."  
  
Uno reached down and picked up the metal strips, then reinserted them inside the lock. After pressing the buttons again, she gripped a little harder on them and turned left, just barely hearing the click inside. It opened after that and she looked back at Duo.  
  
"Great. You struggled at first, but with practice you'll get the hang of it."  
  
"Wat if I don't heaw it click?"  
  
"Not all the time you can and not all the time it will. And you won't always be able to have the time to quickly hear for it, especially when running."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Okay, now this is an outdated version of lock picking utensils…actually…it's extremely outdated. But still, it never failed me once before. Each locking mechanism is different to use, so once you get the hang of this one, I'll locate an updated version-a new one-and teach you how to use that. Alright?"  
  
"Kay." Uno hugged Duo.  
  
"Good, now lets move on to another door." Duo stood up and looked down. "Think you know how those fit into their rightful slots?"  
  
"…" Uno sat down and fumbled around until she got each utensil inside its leather strap holder, then stood.  
  
"Good."  
  
That night, as Duo was watching television, Uno stepped into the room with her G I Joes and sat down on the ground once again. Heero looked up from his typing and noticed it.  
  
"…Duo."  
  
"Ya'?"  
  
"…Did you get Uno G I Joes?"  
  
"Yup!" Duo smiled and watched her play war.  
  
"…Hn…" Heero smirked and looked back down to his laptop. Already, she wants to fight. I can see it while she plays with those toys. He continued typing his reports to Dr. J on how he's teaching Uno to become the Perfect Soldier along with everyone else on their hoping. He knew she'd become the Perfect Soldier, but Duo would also want her to stay as the Goddess of Death. Wonder if he'll tell Professor G about this one.  
  
"Ya' know, Heero."  
  
"Hn…"  
  
"We no longer fight, but yet, you still have mission reports to send…why?"  
  
"Classified."  
  
"…I shoulda' known." Duo looked at Uno. "Ey Uno sweetie."  
  
"…" Uno looked up at him, questionably.  
  
"Whatever you do, when I ask you something, don't respond like Heero and label it as 'classified'…alright?"  
  
"…Kay." Uno smiled and looked back down at her toys, playing more with them. "Bang! Bang…"  
  
WuFei glanced over from the chair and watched her. Quatre lied on Trowa's lap and watch from across the room while Trowa read yet another dull book to help him sleep that night.  
  
Tuesday morning and Duo sat up in bed, still seeing Uno sound asleep cuddling Deathscythe in her arms. He smiled. He crawled over on his bed and shook her some; she cuddled more and ducked her face in her pillow.  
  
"Uno sweetie, wake up. We gotta' continue training." Duo looked at her. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up at him from cuddling position and smiled.  
  
"Do we have ta'?" Uno asked cutely.  
  
"You're already becoming me." Duo smiled and kissed her forehead. "Come on, go get dressed."  
  
"Okay." Uno sat up and stretched.  
  
Uno made her way down the hallway that morning after she dressed and found Duo sitting on the arm of the couch, looking at her.  
  
"Uno…today, I'm gonna' teach ya' how to sneak."  
  
"But I know how."  
  
"…Differently than you did on the streets some months ago." Duo picked her up and sat her on his knee. "I mean going stealth. Having other people not know you're around. Becoming the shadow among the other shadows."  
  
"Okay." Uno slid off his knee and looked at him. Duo stood and straightened out his jeans.  
  
"Alright…you do know how to tip toe, right?" Uno nodded. "Okay good. Sorta' like that, but be extremely cautious that you don't alarm those you're sneaking by. Now, the main thing you have to remember is…when going slow, take it easy. But when going fast, don't use your weight."  
  
"Okay." Uno followed Duo to the hallway as he walked there.  
  
"Now, the first key to remember is: When running in stealth, try to keep your weight subsides by your lightness. Meaning, don't go running and stomping. It won't work like that. Run like a feather, you'll also notice yourself speed up that way; you'll feel so light, you can go faster. Like this." Duo ran stealth and moved silently. "Okay Uno, now when trying to run stealth, be sure not to do…this." Duo ran back to her stealth mode and made soft sounds with his feet.  
  
"See, even soft sounds don't let you get by easily…now you try. Don't forget to sound silent."  
  
Uno nodded and ran in stealth. Unfortunately, her feet still made soft noises even when she tried with her toes.  
  
"No…you made a noise…"  
  
"What if it's my shoes or the gwound?"  
  
"…More than likely, you'd have to fix that as much as possible not to happen a lot. Once or twice, depends. You'll get spotted and you don't want to do that. Now, when trying to run stealth, be careful not to use your weight. Remember I said that. Now try again."  
  
Uno nodded once again and ran. She was a bit slower this time and used more of her toes then her heals. Once returned to Duo, she looked up at him with a pondering look on her face.  
  
"That's better, I didn't hear you this time. But you slowed down. Now try it again and this time, try not to slow down some. Alright."  
  
"Kay." Replied Uno.  
  
She took off once again and swayed to each foot as she stepped. So far, she was doing well and once she stopped at the end, returned to Duo, speeding up gradually.  
  
"Good…now, what you just learned was stealth running. We still have sprinting left and that's faster, like running for dear life silently, and walking or tiptoeing. Both of those last two are the hardest to learn because you're applying more weight to your feet."  
  
Duo looked at Uno through the eyes and watched her blink. He waited for a reply of feedback but that was good enough to him so far. Duo thought quickly about the next topic and decided on doing sprinting.  
  
"Alright, now when sprinting, remember the same thing you had for running. Be calm when running, don't breath heavy, stay quiet, and above all…try your very best not to use your heels. Watch me." Duo looked down to the end of the hallway and tilted his head to pop his neck. When he took off, he didn't leave even a single swift of his clothes, instead high-tailed his butt down the hall, very quiet and fast. When he stopped, he was at the opposite end and didn't look half that badly out of breath.  
  
"Now you try, Uno." Uno ran as he did and made note that she was doing all right. When she finished, she almost had trouble stopping but luckily Duo was there to hold her.  
  
"Whoa…hey sweetie…not that fast. Look, careful of your speed. I didn't think you could run that fast, but still…" He hugged her and then ran again to the previous end of the hallway. This time, Uno took note of how the correct way to run was. He ended and turned back to her.  
  
"Now you try again."  
  
Sitting in the library, Quatre was reading a magazine that was delivered to his mansion by mail. He looked at all the pretty decorations it showed for occasions and such. Outside the door and down a floor, Duo was training with Uno.  
  
"I wonder how well Uno's learning stealth right now." Quatre flipped a page.  
  
"I don't understand why he'll call it that, it's only running when silent." WuFei mention, not looking up from his martial arts book. He leaned backwards on the window of the balcony couch.  
  
"Duo thinks there's more to it than just running. But let's let Duo to think that." Trowa stepped inside the room with a glass of tea for he and Quatre.  
  
"Thank you, Trowa." Quatre placed it on the table. "Say…did Duo find out Uno's birthday?"  
  
"No. He hasn't even thought about that yet." Heero canceled his program and opened a new message.  
  
"I'm surprised. He loves her to death already, I figured he'd probably find out by now."  
  
"For a beginner, Uno's pretty well coordinated. I just walked by the two on running silent sprints and they aren't so bad. Uno's not as quiet, but she's close." Trowa sipped his tea.  
  
"That onna better not grow up to become a weak onna, or in this matter…an exact replica of that Maxwell as she seems so already."  
  
"Then you should join in with teaching her, WuFei. I bet you can make quiet a difference in her." Quatre looked up at him.  
  
"No…however, that does give me an idea."  
  
"Just don't turn her against Duo…it'll break his heart."  
  
"Exactly." WuFei grinned.  
  
"Good, Uno…so far you got running and sprinting down." Duo leaned on the wall and looked down at the sitting Uno. He smirked as she looked around this big, decorated hallway.  
  
"What next?"  
  
"Walking…or tiptoeing. Which ever you decide."  
  
"…Kay." Uno stood and tiptoed over to Duo.  
  
"Heh…well, this one may not take so long." Duo wrapped his arm around her head and back as they walked back to the center of the hallway. "Alright now…fun time." Duo smiled tightly.  
  
"…What fun?"  
  
"Okay…say I'm a cop and I'm guarding this…priceless…" Duo looked around for something he could use. "…Vase!"  
  
"…" Uno blinked.  
  
"And I don't want anybody to come and steal it and I'm the best, and I mean THE best, cop they have for the job. And this priceless piece of something is what you need to get the money you long for. How do you get it?" He stood and folded his arm, glancing around like a cop.  
  
"…" Uno walked by him like nothing and looked around at the pictures hanging on the walls. She stopped and stared up into one, then casually walked away to another. When she sensed his back was to her, she silently tiptoed over to the previous direction and closed in on the special item.  
  
Duo was counting to three until he would have to turn around and tell her to make her move. He was expecting her to make a noise when doing what he asked for. Already, he hasn't heard a thing and was getting, to some extent, impatient. He turned around and found he was alone. He blinked and looked over. The vase was gone as well. He then looked down the hall they were previously at and saw her sitting there, holding the vase in her arms. He blinked again. He was there the entire time…paying attention so he could try and make due of what she would do, and there she was…sitting very happy, with the vase and all.  
  
"…Uno…I…"  
  
"Didn't see me." She smiled and walked up to him.  
  
"Did you tiptoe away too?" She shook her head and handed the vase back to him carefully. "Run?" She nodded. "…God…I didn't even sense you."  
  
"…"  
  
"Heh heh heh…" Duo grinned and hugged her. "My little Uno's already a perfect little thief, I'm so proud!"  
  
Later that night, Quatre stepped up to Duo. He was in the kitchen preparing a sandwich for him as Uno played more. She was fondling around with a padlock that Duo had let her use to practice on. She mastered the lock picking on doors in less than a few hours ago and moved on to greater things, like padlocks. Next, Duo would want her to try to pick car's and hotwire them. Hotwiring would be not until she gets a little older.  
  
"Hello Duo."  
  
"Hey Q…hey look." He pointed to Uno. "She moved on to padlocks now."  
  
Quatre smiled. "Nice…um…Duo, listen."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you know Uno's birthday?" Duo stopped making his sandwich. "Because I was looking through a magazine and I realized that we haven't asked her yet."  
  
"…What if she doesn't know?" He looked at him seriously and put the peanut butter and jelly away.  
  
"…Have you even asked her yet?"  
  
"…I will now." Duo trailed out of the kitchen with his food and Quatre followed behind. He walked up to Uno who was turning the keypad with her ear gently pressed on it. Heero glanced up at her and watched.  
  
"…" Uno looked seriously in her eyes and smiled when she heard the third and final click of the lock. She looked up to Duo.  
  
"Uno hon…" Duo sat down and Quatre sat on the couch. "When's your birthday?"  
  
"…I'm not suw."  
  
"…You don't know?"  
  
"…No…I know Mommy and Daddy had a lot of people at the doow one day."  
  
"Was that day your birthday?"  
  
"I think so…lots of pwesents…but a lot of people at the doow who looked scawy too."  
  
"…They looked dressed up?" Uno nodded to Duo again. "Halloween. Perfect!"  
  
"Duo…" Quatre began but Duo silenced him with his hand.  
  
"Shush Quatre. Shinimegami's birthday is Halloween. That is SO great!" Duo smiled and hugged Uno.  
  
The next day, Wednesday, Duo was sitting in the living room watching television when Uno suddenly appeared besides him and cuddled into his side. She hugged at Deathscythe tighter and shut her eyes again.  
  
"Hey sweetie."  
  
"…"  
  
"We're gonna' continue today, alright?"  
  
"…"  
  
"…Right…and guess what on?"  
  
"…"  
  
"That's right! We're learning how to use a scythe!"  
  
"…" Uno looked up at him with a weird look in her face. "…You'we weiwd."  
  
"…" Do to that, Duo suddenly had the urge to grab her and tickle her, and so he did. "Teach ya' not to mess with Shinigami!"  
  
"Hahahaha!!!" Uno laughed loudly and squirmed. She tried to slide off the couch only Duo pulled her back and held onto her braid. He continued and she spun around and hit him in the side.  
  
"Damn Uno!" He rubbed his side. "Ouch."  
  
"…" Uno slapped his hand that was closest to her. "Potty mouth." She pouted at him.  
  
"Erm…heh heh…let's go." Duo quickly stood and looked down at her pleading eyes. "Scythe time!"  
  
"…" Uno stood and ran down to their room to change. She knew Duo would tell her to so she went along and did so before he had the chance to speak.  
  
"…Um…okay." Duo shrugged and sat back down to wait for her. With in a few minutes, she ran back down but Duo did not see her. Due to that, she snuck up behind him, behind the couch, and grabbed at his braid, pulling it down.  
  
"Gah!! Uno!! I know that's you back there!" Uno giggled and Duo stood. "That's it!"  
  
"!!!" Uno ran and opened the hallway door on the other end. She left it open and ran as Duo fled behind her. She saw Quatre up ahead and called out for him.  
  
"Cat-twa!" She smiled and ran to him.  
  
"Hello Uno." Quatre smiled back and watched as she ran behind him.  
  
"There you are….ughn…god." Duo leant down and rested his hands on his knees. "That lil' thing runs fast."  
  
"Playing Tag?"  
  
"Nah…'Tickle Me Uno'…ughn…"  
  
"Oh." Quatre giggled.  
  
"Come on Uno..." Duo stood and took out his scythe, real but not powered on at that moment.  
  
"Just be careful Duo…"  
  
"I know." Duo took Uno's hand and led her outside the mansion. When outside, he handed the scythe to her.  
  
"Hold it." She held it in two hands. "Is it heavy?"  
  
"A little."  
  
"Alright, try just one then." She did but held it with two again. "…Hm…okay. Then, you need to practice more…get stronger. That can be tomorrow…weight room."  
  
"Kay…" Uno handed it back and he spun the scythe around some in his hands.  
  
"Okay, notice how I'm very careful about where I'm placing my hands on this stick? The handle or whatever you wish to call it?" She nodded. "Kay…when spinning it, be sure to NOT touch this end here." He pointed out to her the energy holes.  
  
"This is where the scythe gets powered up. Now you, I know you have, seen this in my pictures on my walls…correct?" She nodded. "Okay, now when you get it powered up…like so…notice how it's very bright and hot."  
  
Uno stared at the energy flame then away to him, rubbing her eyes. He handed her the scythe and she felt it get a little heavier.  
  
"Okay, careful…now try and spin it like I did." She did and just barely had it slip out of her fingers. "You're fingers are small but eventually you'll get the hang of it. Until then…try hitting this here tree branch."  
  
Uno walked up to a branch that he held out in his hands away from his body, and swung the scythe at him. He backed away some and the branch split in half fast, then fell to the ground. Uno looked up to him, shocked.  
  
"Cool, isn't it?" Uno nodded and continued to spin it in her hands. "Good…now try with one…good…switch…alright…now…hm…try, um…try spinning it around-yeah, like that."  
  
Uno tossed it back to him in the air and he grabbed it and continued to spin it, then shut it off. Duo stood, hanging the scythe from his hands and looked at her. Uno breathed heavy a little and stumbled backwards onto her butt. She sat resting.  
  
"Weak?" Uno nodded. "That's okay. You'll get used to it eventually. But it also depends on…"  
  
"On wat?" Uno asked.  
  
Duo sighed, he wanted her to be just like him. "If you want to have a scythe in the future when you battle."  
  
"…"  
  
"But you won't ever know until then, will ya'." She smiled and he felt somewhat depressed.  
  
Quatre stepped into his bedroom to see Trowa napping on the bed. With a smirk, he tiptoed over to the bed and prepared an attack, until…  
  
"Hello Quatre."  
  
"How could you tell?"  
  
"It's not hard to sense another's presence in a room." He paused. "Besides, no one but us would enter this room and if it were Uno, she'd sneak up."  
  
"Perhaps I should have Duo teach me stealth then, as well." Quatre sat down on the bed as Trowa opened his eyes. He sat up some and hugged Quatre from behind, placing his chin on Quatre's left shoulder.  
  
"Something wrong, Love?" Trowa almost whispered in his ear.  
  
"No…but Uno's getting well educated so far only she's not getting proper schooling. I understand Duo wants her to be Shinimegami in the future, but she need an education and there may not even be a battle when she's older."  
  
"I understand. Speak with Duo about it."  
  
"I will, but I don't want to sound pushy to him. He's the legal guardian of Uno and we're only helpers."  
  
"We are all her guardians, only Duo and Hildie are signed for it because the law states only two can parent a child: one female and one male."  
  
Quatre sighed and leaned back on Trowa some. Trowa kissed his neck and moved to his lips.  
  
"Well Uno…so far…you've done great. Now all that's left is training with strength tomorrow. I don't want it to seem like it's on all your trainings, but I've noticed that you need the strength that we want you to use."  
  
"Okay." Uno stood and sat in Duo's lap; Duo hugged her.  
  
Both were panting due to the movements of the scythe. Each time Duo would toss her the scythe, she'd spin it around and tossed it right back-not what he intended to do. A few times she caught him by surprise but after the fifth time, he realized what she was doing: she was training her own reflexes and not even knowing it.  
  
"Uno…I think that's it for now…I got you a new padlock you can try…it's a different type and I don't think I'll teach you about hotwiring just yet. Not until battle time comes near-don't want you to hack Quatre's cars in the future."  
  
Uno smiled as she was hugged and picked up. Duo stood and carried her into the mansion, piggyback style. After he shut the door, she perked up at the sight of a certain someone.  
  
"Wu-man!"  
  
"…" Duo stayed silent-he told her not to do that.  
  
"…" WuFei walked right by and stuck his nose up at her once.  
  
"…Wu-Fay?" Uno asked and as he slowed to turn the corner, looking back at her amazed that she spoke his name the best she was able to properly. When Duo turned around to him with Uno on top, she death glared him again.  
  
"…" WuFei turned away and Duo smirked.  
  
"Ya' scarin' him the more you do that."  
  
"So."  
  
"So…if you continue to do that and call him Wu-man…then he won't want to help teach you." Uno pouted as Duo walked away. She bent over and hugged his neck; he smiled.  
  
When he finally reached the hallway where their rooms were at, Heero's door was slightly ajar and he figured he'd pop in. He did and Heero looked a little disturbed until he saw Uno.  
  
"Hi-ya', Hee-chan!" Duo waved.  
  
"…" Heero faced Duo and then to Uno. He smirked.  
  
"Huh?" Duo's face vaulted.  
  
"She's asleep."  
  
"…" Duo glanced over to the mirror and saw Uno out like a light, leaning over his shoulder in a hug and sleeping silently. "Wow…I guess that training was pretty tough on her after all."  
  
"What training did you teach today?"  
  
"Scythe."  
  
"…" Heero glanced at her, he had to admit-in his feelings and not outside- she looked very cute like that. With her braid hanging off the side almost falling out and her arms dangling on each side of Duo, she looked like a miniature sized Duo-rag doll.  
  
"Well…guess I'm gonna' go put her to bed. See ya' later, Hee-man!" Duo turned the corner and headed back down the hallway.  
  
"Hm…" Heero watched and stared at Uno-her face was vaulted like she hasn't had sleep in years. He wondered if Duo taught her stealth that well because she didn't make any noise as she slept, almost like he himself as Duo found on their last missions. Duo would sometimes wonder if Heero was even alive because he slept perfectly silent, just as the Perfect Soldier was.  
  
Duo entered his room and shut the door. He looked at the clock-five in the afternoon-and to the windows. It was still sunny out, but the sun was lowering. He figured if Uno were that tired he'd let her sleep the night and skip dinner. He set her in her bed-his cot actually-and tucked her in the sheets. Automatically, she grabbed at the Deathscythe-as if knowing perfectly where it was without looking-and cuddled. Duo smiled and pecked her forehead, then turned and walked away. Just as he reached for the knob, he heard his name mumbled. He turned his head to her.  
  
"…Eh?" He asked but it didn't reach her awareness. Instead, she just continued.  
  
"Luv you, Duo." To Duo, it was more of a whisper but she mumbled it in her sleep.  
  
Duo smiled and felt extremely happy. He's never felt this proud since he found a meaning to stay alive after the Maxwell Church. He shut the door quietly and walked down to the dining room, a bright smile planted on his face.  
  
"Duo?" Quatre asked while he set the table for dinner.  
  
"Uno…she's tired and so I put her in her bed to let her sleep. I mean she's really tired."  
  
"Oh? So she won't be joining us?" Quatre stepped away to take the cups from Trowa as Heero and WuFei sat down.  
  
"No…not tonight. But as I left, I heard my name mumbled and she said she loved me." Duo smiled and hugged himself. Quatre blushed and smiled, feeling very happy for him.  
  
"Cute. I'm proud of you Duo…you've done great."  
  
"I know, Quat…I love it!" Duo smiled tightly.  
  
"I'm surprised you haven't faulted yet." WuFei poured he and Heero soda as Heero gave WuFei and himself some food Quatre had just placed down.  
  
"Duo, when you are going to send Uno off to school?" Quatre sat down and took his own share of food.  
  
"…Well…I want her to finish our training first…you know, at least to you. WuFei…I'm hoping…"  
  
WuFei snorted at him.  
  
"…But I'm feeling that as a no. And I don't know where just yet and where she stands. She's learning quite well on her own so far."  
  
"But she's catching up…she'll need proper schooling." Quatre sliced his meat.  
  
"…I'll look into it."  
  
"I'll help you. I'm sure I have enough money to help you send her to a school."  
  
"No private school! She's going public, just like a normal human being that we never had the chance to acquire."  
  
"…But Duo…it's too dangerous for her."  
  
"I dun care Quatre…we taught her well and like you all have been telling me, there may not even be anything going on in the future."  
  
Quatre sighed. "Alright. I'll look into public schools and find the best one that's closest near here."  
  
"Thank you." Duo smiled and began to eat his first bite. "And besides…she may become the smartest student in that entire school if WuFei decided to join."  
  
"Note your words, Maxwell. Decide."  
  
"Duo…please swallow your food before you speak." Quatre asked and Duo rolled his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya'."  
  
"Maybe I should have him sit through my training with Uno as well." Quatre whispered to Trowa.  
  
Thursday morning and Duo sat up in his bed, alone in the room.  
  
"Uno?" He looked around and found no one. Figuring she wouldn't be playing, he left the room to the living room. There he found Uno watching cartoons and cuddling next to Quatre who sat with her.  
  
"Hey Duo." Quatre perked up. Uno was too glued to the television set that she didn't even notice Duo was in the room.  
  
"…Uno?"  
  
"She's been stuck to the set this morning."  
  
"…I can tell."  
  
"She already takes after you." Quatre giggled.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. We're weight lighting today. She struggled some with the scythe yesterday so she's gonna' be packing it up today in the gym. Ain't that right, Uno?" Uno looked up and saw Duo.  
  
"Hi Duo!" She smiled, just now realizing he was in the room.  
  
"You're worse than me."  
  
"I hope you know you're insulting yourself."  
  
"Hi Heewo!" Uno smiled at Heero as he passed by.  
  
"I do and I don't care!" Duo went cold shoulder on him and looked back to Uno. "Ya' ready to get strong?"  
  
"Uh huh." Uno stood besides Duo.  
  
"Be careful, Duo."  
  
"I know Quatre." Said Duo as he bent down so she could climb on top. "Gid on, lil' lady."  
  
Uno crawled on him and held onto him in a hug. He hopped her up some and began his way down the hallway.  
  
"Uno…I thank you for what you said yesterday. You made me very proud." Duo was welcome with another hug and smiled again. "Hehe, ya' know something, Uno…I'm proud to have taken you in myself."  
  
Uno smiled and looked around. Duo stepped through another door in the hallway and looked around as he began to walk up to the weight room door.  
  
"Word of advice, hon."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"…Never roam these halls without one of us."  
  
"You mean 'one of them?'" She giggled and Duo felt his eyes shift to the lower right. However, he knew she was right.  
  
"…Yeah…one of them. I oughta' get you for that one." Uno giggled. "Oh 'hehe-haha'…just you wait."  
  
The door shut behind them and Duo set Uno down. He stepped up to a bag and looked back at her.  
  
"Punch." She did. "…Okay then. Seems like Heero trained you in this already."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"…Okay…then…" Duo stood next to the bench press and motioned her to lay back. "How much did he do this with you?"  
  
"Um…I think he said fifteen."  
  
"…You can't be that strong already and struggle to hold a gun and my scythe. Try this." Duo placed five pounds on each side of the bar and she lifted it quite well. He then added an extra five to the side and she continued.  
  
"See?"  
  
"Not wanting to believe it, but yeah. Okay, this is what I'm going to do. I am going to place five pounds on each side and you tell me when it begins to get heavy for you. And from there, we'll lower that five pounds to one on each side until we mark where you are."  
  
"…Kay." Uno prepared and held up the bar with fifteen already on.  
  
"Okay, now here we go." Duo placed five pounds on the opposite side of the ten-pound side and Uno still held tightly. "No? Go on then." About another ten pounds more Uno's arms began to shake.  
  
"Duo."  
  
"This?" Uno nodded. "Okay. Let's try this." Duo removed the previously placed five-pound weight and began adding a one pound one to each side.  
  
"Duo!"  
  
"That's about twenty two pounds. Now continue with lowering and lifting them, I'm right behind you." Duo stood behind Uno and held his hands to prevent fatal accidents.  
  
"Here." Heero placed a water bottle down on the table besides the bench and looked back at Duo's questioning face. "She'll dehydrate if she doesn't train while drinking water."  
  
"What about Gatorade?"  
  
"…Water is the best for training. Those other commercialized drinks were not trusted when they came out. Water is safe, just don't let her drink a lot of it."  
  
"Why not?" Asked Uno as she lifted the bar for the fifth time.  
  
"Too little of it can dehydrate you but too much can make you sick."  
  
"Hm…I didn't know that."  
  
"…" Heero turned and walked away. Before he left, he turned around once more and looked back at Duo and Uno. She lifted for the seventh time at that moment.  
  
"Good Uno, that's seven. Three more and we move on. Eventually I'll have you be doing twenty."  
  
Heero smirked and shut the door. He sat down in the office besides the living room and spoke to Quatre who sat at the desk before him.  
  
"She's strong, twenty two pounds."  
  
"Really? Wow." Quatre took a sip of his tea and placed it back down.  
  
"Have you found a school yet?"  
  
"So-to-speak, I have."  
  
"Which school are you questioning?"  
  
"Winner Elementary, Junior High, and High school."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"My father opened three schools and I had not known about it. It says here that he founded three schools for bright students but since he decided it to become public, it outgrew it's original potential and became public for all types."  
  
"How does it look?"  
  
"Pretty decent so far. I only wonder if Uno will get the schooling she will need instead of passing by because I own the school now."  
  
"Hm."  
  
"I guess I will have to speak with the principal about her enrollments then.  
  
"Duo will have to be the one to sign her in, I will go with him to make sure he does it correctly."  
  
"Well if you plan to go that far in helping, then I need to be there to be sure you don't hurt his feelings." Quatre looked up from the screen to meet his eyes. "You hurt his feelings plenty before and he doesn't show them until he's alone-I've seen it. And he doesn't want to be caught crying in front of Uno."  
  
"Hm." Heero noted this mentally. He never knew he hurt the poor boys feelings; besides, how would he know-Duo's stealth even when it comes to negative feeling emotions.  
  
"Besides, I need to speak with the principal to explain that I have taken over the family business."  
  
Later that day, about four hours later and the entire weight room set completed, Uno sat on the bench press drinking her water. Duo cleaned up the weights he and Uno had dealt with.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Are we done?"  
  
"…No." Uno sighed as he walked over to her. "Hit my hands."  
  
"What?" Duo held up his palms and repeated. "…Okay."  
  
"Well…you can work on your punching skills, but that'll take some time and it's best to ask Heero for that."  
  
"How come?" Asked Uno as Duo lifted her back up onto his back so she could rest her feet-those leg presses were tough on her little body.  
  
"Trust me…when it comes to final blows, Heero has a knack for those."  
  
As Duo sat Uno down in the chair for dinner, he noticed Quatre had a smile plastered in his face. He pondered and poured he and Uno some soda as she sipped hers when he finished.  
  
"Duo…I found a school for Uno."  
  
"Yeah?" Duo sat. Uno sat her cup back down and frowned down a little.  
  
"My father founded three schools and had not told me about it. Winner Elementary is where I'm planning to sign her up in. Only, I need to speak with the principal about her enrollment first. I don't want them to favor her because she lives with the new founder of the school."  
  
"…" Uno pouted inside but hid it on the outside. She liked having the advantage so far, she felt special. She got whatever she asked for; which wasn't much-yet.  
  
"Here you go, Uno." Trowa put a plate of food on the table in front of her as she smiled; her favorite time of the day-food. Hanging out with Duo as much as she had been trailed off a habit of his to her.  
  
"Thank you, Trow-wa." Uno smiled and picked up the utensils as she learned herself.  
  
"Welcome." Responded Trowa as he sat besides Quatre.  
  
Quatre watched Uno hold her fork as a knife to stab at things. He'd have so much fun teaching her in training. He couldn't wait, really; he almost feels like he's going to ask Trowa to trade training spots with him, but he knows Duo wouldn't be proud of that; she is his child. No body really spoke over the dinner table except for WuFei and Heero about the work at the Preventers and the occasional snare of 'injustice'. Quatre looked over at Uno as she grasped her cup with both hands to drink. He smiled and enjoyed the site-he knew, as she grows older, he'll begin to miss 'Little Uno' more and more compared to the 'Big Uno' she'll grow into.  
  
Duo tucked Uno in that night and kissed her forehead. A book he had Heero place on his dresser earlier slid down and startled him, causing him to turn and face it. This gave Uno the perfect opportunity to kiss him on the cheek and snuggle up fast. Duo turned fast back to her and grinned.  
  
"Love you too, Uno sweetie." He tucked the sheets over her and gave her Deathscythe back from the floor. He crawled into his bed and shut off his lamp.  
  
That night, Uno woke to a very disturbing sound-Duo's snoring. She sat upright on her shoulders and faced him with a disgusting look. She pondered for a moment, then did the only logic thing she could at that moment: she grabbed one of his unused pillows (he had two for his bed) and threw it directly to his face, instantly waking him up. Quickly, she dove back down for sleep, her back to him, and silently acted asleep as she listened-in to his movements.  
  
Duo looked around and back down to the pillow that now sat in his lap and only one thought came to mind: Uno. He grinned and placed his pillow right back in its spot and laid back down. I'll get her back…very soon. Duo grinned at his thoughts as he fell back into slumber land for the second time that night.  
  
Uno woke to an abrupt style: pillow to the face. She sat up quickly and faced a grinning maniac named Duo. She pouted, grabbed her pillow, and hit him in return. The pillow fight went on for a few good minutes then both settled down to rest. Duo sat besides Uno and hugged her.  
  
"Uno...time for the test sweetie."  
  
"..." Uno dug her head into Duo's side to hide, but did her no good.  
  
"Nope..." Duo stood. "Come on, get dressed and come down. It starts A.S.A.P." Duo walked out and shut the door behind him. Uno sat there thinking of a way to get him...she was tired.  
  
Duo's been waiting for ten minutes already and Uno hadn't returned yet. Quatre came by earlier and told him each of them were in their room doing their own things, in case Duo needed them. Duo also told him to tell everyone else about the test so if they spot Uno, to tell him. Duo was about to go back to his room and find Uno when he saw her head pop out from around the corner. He smiled.  
  
"'Bout time." Duo stood as she walked up to him. "Alright, Breakfast. Now why do I say to eat a lot?" Duo picked up Uno and carried her into the Kitchen.  
  
"So you won't stawve quickly latew on. Not to eat a lot because you'll make youwself sick. Eat just the porfect amount so that way you can be pwepawed and full at the same time." Uno smiled and nodded each sentence in agreement with Duo's smile.  
  
"Great." Duo sat her in a chair and gave her a bowl. "Dig in."  
  
Uno smiled and took her cereal and milk, pouring it into the bowl carefully. Duo watched Uno put the cap back on the milk, closed up the box of cereal, then began to eat with her spoon. He already had his share of food early that morning when Quatre opened his door. Quatre wanted to know if Duo decided to take Uno to the mall that day, but Duo wouldn't spare a minute of her training; she needed this badly. Moments later, she finished and smiled at Duo.  
  
"Okay...now what do you do?" Asked Duo; she needed to be able to clean up after herself else Quatre would fit over her, considering he owns her.  
  
"..." Uno blinked.  
  
"Clean it." Duo had her follow him to the counter and placed a little stool below the sink. "Climb up, put the bowl in the sink, turn on the faucet and fill it with water until it seeps out a lot. This is how clean it now so later on, you don't have a rough time to take care of it."  
  
"Okay." Uno did as told and stood on the stool. She placed the bowl in the sink, filled it with water until it overflowed, and watched as the water cleared up. She finished and turned off the faucet, then faced Duo in return.  
  
"Good, now follow me." Duo left to go to the living room and turned to face her. He handed her a lock picking mechanism and smiled at her.  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Okay, I will time you and you have to find a golden rose. Do not let anyone know you're there, you don't know where they could be, and above all, most of the doors are locked so don't alarm anyone testing a doorknob."  
  
"Wight." Uno smiled and nodded, clearing her objectives for this.  
  
"Now...ready...set...go!" Duo sat back on the couch with the timer and watched her run like hell out into the hallway. He smirked. Go Uno...you do this...Trowa has a present for you.  
  
Uno rounded the corner and stopped seeing WuFei up ahead. Quickly, she dove behind a large houseplant and watched him move. She kept silent, holding her breath.  
  
"Baka Maxwell. I don't care about that onna's training! I don't care about no stupid rose!" WuFei quieted and looked around the hallway; he felt he was being watched.  
  
"..." Uno stayed quiet knowing he was searching. Once she watched him shut the door behind him to his room, she made a run for it. Stepping up to a door, she tried the knob and found it locked. Grinning, she began lock picking.  
  
About three tries after she screwed up, she finally managed to open it. Carefully, after she put the tools away, she stepped into the room and shut the door behind herself. It was Quatre's bedroom and no one, Quatre meaning, was around. She ran over to his dresser and took out a cloth she stole from Duo's back pocket. She grinned and used it to look around, opening the drawers to the dresser and digging through the stuff for the rose. Frowning, she shut all the drawers once she found it nowhere and left the room after locking it from the inside. She looked around and searched.  
  
Duo still waited for her arrival with the rose. Uno swiped his scarf out of his back pocket he was going to give to Quatre, but unfortunately that was going to have to wait.  
  
Darting across the hall, she tested another knob and found it unlocked. Inside she went and automatically she dove under a desk; Heero was in his room. She watched his movements as he shut the door to the bathroom. She stood and ran to his laptop to look in his desk drawers. Nothing she found useful so she ran to his dresser. With cloth in hand still, she tried those drawers and still found nothing. The sound of the door startled her and quickly she did the only think known to mankind at this point in time, she dove under the bed. Uno watched as Heero walked across the room and sat on his bed, causing the bed to crater over her head and push her down. Heero thought about the sudden appeared lump from the base of his bed and hopped once with his butt. To poor Uno, she bit her lower lip easing the pain of a sudden headache. The sound of bed sheets crumbling stopped as she heard Heero nap. She sighed to herself; it was about damn time she was able to get out. She crawled. Something constructed her path and she looked down at a magazine. Playboy, a name that was new to her but the image on the cover was a female that needed a towel; this lady was soaked in water and showing threw a white t-shirt and her shorts looked too old- they were short. Uno pushed the magazine aside and crawled out from the hide away. Silently, she stood and stealth ran to the door. She opened it and looked out the halls for anything. Nothing was there and before she shut the door behind herself, she double checked on Heero. He was out like a light. Uno shut the door and looked to the other doors, sighing; this was going to be a long test. Heero sat up and yawned. He reached below his bed and grabbed at his Playboy magazine, finding it in a different spot than where he last had it. He blinked and found it's new spot.  
  
Finally, Uno made it through another door that was locked and shut it quietly behind her. She was now in the library and behind the shelves she found Trowa skimming through a book. She climbed up the shelves to the top and looked around; she was extremely relieved to find out the shelves were sturdy even if she weighed below 100lbs. Uno crawled around on the top of the bookcase and stopped at the end of one. She watched Trowa sit down in a chair and begin reading. She bit her lip and backed away from the edge, staying low even for her height. She turned around and found the annoying golden rose on the top of a shelf in the corner of the room. She smiled happily that she found it, then frowned at it's place-four rows over and in the back corner noticeable to the silent reader. Even with the reader there, she crawled to the end of the shelf and looked down. She was at least ten feet up in the air and the gap to the back wall shelves were about half the width. Shakily, she stood and backed some. She looked behind her and found Trowa still reading. With that, she ran a few feet and jump at the last second, quickly grabbing the edge of the other side. She wouldn't be able to make a noise or fall so this had to be perfect. She hoisted herself up and sat on her knees, resting her arms and heart. She heard the door to the room open and WuFei's voice rise up to Trowa's. She waited and watched them speak, smiling for distracting the reader. Uno crawled to the golden rose and pocketed it. It was nice looking but she needed to get out now. The door opened again and she found Quatre step inside, WuFei leant back on the door and all three began to speak. Uno was now frightened at what to do. Her only way out was threw the door that the Chinese fighter leant on and the other two were right there as well. She looked around for different ways and found another door below the tiny shelf she sat on. Her shelf she was on at the moment was a top-wall shelf for above doors and stuff like that and it followed all the way across half the room into a U-shape. It curved in the corners, went over the door that she wouldn't have time to test and lock pick if needed for the crowd was right behind her, and went over a window. Uno's eyes widened at the window that was open. If she were to jump down, they'd see her. But she could crawl on the shelves, and swing outside from there, the only downfall is, what's below and how far down is it. She shook the thoughts out of her head and did it anyways. Crawling, she kept one eye on her path and the other on the crowd. When she finally got to the spot, she turned around to where her back was to everything, held onto the edge with her hands, and dropped her knees and feet, swinging them out the window. Quickly, she let go-actually by accident-and held her breath until she landed. Her feet fell firmly on the ground one and a half stories up and tingled up her legs. She bit her lip again and began running to the front of the house. As she spun around the corner, she slammed herself against the brick wall seeing Heero's window open and him at the desk. She thought, I bet the front door is locked anyways and his window is open...but he's right there... Uno inhaled and waited until she heard him get up and go to the door. Finally, she heard the sound of the hinges and she jumped through the window and looked about the room. Carefully, she ran to the door and noticed it locked. She unlocked it, opened it, relocked it, looked around the hallway, and out of the room. Shutting the door behind herself, she dove behind another large houseplant waiting until Heero stepped by. She watched him unlock his door with keys and step inside. When the door shut, she stood and high-tailed her butt down the hallway.  
  
Duo was about to fall asleep when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Uno walking up to him with the golden rose in her hand. He smirked.  
  
"One hour and twenty-one minutes. Where did you find it?" He cleared his stop watched and set it down.  
  
"On the top of a shelf in the libwawy in the faw back cownew." Uno handed him the rose and hugged him.  
  
"Well..." Duo looked at it. "You run into anyone?"  
  
"Ask Cat-twa, Trow-wa, Wu-Fay, and Heewo. They may know." She smiled as Duo picked her up.  
  
"Oh yeah? You found them?"  
  
"Heewo twice."  
  
"Hm...I'll find out later how you did...they suspect anything?"  
  
"Not that I saw." Uno hugged Duo and they left the living room.  
  
"How did you get out?"  
  
"I jumped out the window from the shelves." Duo blinked at her. "I held onto the edge and let go aftor I swung outside. Then I found Heewo's window open and jumped in."  
  
"Uno...you're a natural. Even I wouldn't think of that at your age. By that age, I was only good at stealin' apples and food with my ol' group."  
  
Later that night, Duo found out that neither of the group heard or seen Uno the entire test. He was actually shocked that she did so well. Duo stepped into the living room and found Uno playing one of his video games, Quatre and Trowa with her; Quatre watched, Trowa read.  
  
"Duo..." Quatre began. "Tekken isn't a good game for her to play."  
  
"Sure it is...just not mortal combat. I hid that from her long ago." Duo sat down besides her and watched her replays. "Besides, if WuFei won't teach her, then I can have these video games learn her a little something."  
  
"Correction Maxwell, I won't teach her. You said 'if'." WuFei passed by and left in the Kitchen.  
  
"Whatever." Duo rolled his eyes. "Uno...don't smack me with a pillow tonight, okay hon?"  
  
"Don't snor."  
  
"Hehehe." Quatre giggled some.  
  
"Uh! How dare you say I snore!" Duo acted innocent.  
  
"But you do..." Uno blinked and Quatre laughed.  
  
That night, Heero was on his laptop typing up another status report on Uno, once a week he felt Dr. J should know how she's being trained. He stopped for a moment to stretch and heard the door to his room open and shut fast. He looked and saw Uno dive under his bed.  
  
"Shh!!!" Uno hid.  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Heero!" Duo bounced inside. "Where's Uno? I'm gonna' get her."  
  
"Baka...knock next time." Duo blinked at Heero.  
  
"So I take it she's not here?"  
  
"Get out."  
  
"Gone!" Duo left the room.  
  
"Thanks Heewo." Uno crawled out of the crevice.  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Heewo...what's this?" Uno lifted up his Playboy magazine and showed him. Automatically, he grabbed the magazine and threw it back under his bed.  
  
"OUT!" Uno jumped at Heero's words and ran out the door as Duo just had.  
  
"Uno!" Duo stood from his chair seeing Uno enter the room. "Where were you?"  
  
"Under Heewo's bed."  
  
"But I...that guy." Duo sighed.  
  
"Wat's Playboy?"  
  
Duo sweat dropped. "Uh...huh?"  
  
"It's a book under Heewo's bed. Wat is it?"  
  
"...A magazine that you're not allowed to look at." Duo picked her up and sat down, sitting Uno on his knee.  
  
"But wat is it?" Uno blinked at him; Duo couldn't stand her cute facial expressions.  
  
"Um...a bad book that you aren't allowed to view at least until you're thirteen. Then I will tell you."  
  
"...Okay." Uno quieted it down. She knew Duo didn't like the topic because he was shaky about it.  
  
That night after Uno fell asleep, Duo crept across the hallway to Heero's room and stepped inside while knocking.  
  
"Baka...that's not knocking."  
  
"But I did knock."  
  
"What do you need?"  
  
"Um...just that same book.." Lied Duo. He was actually there for the magazine.  
  
"It's on the desk." Heero shut the door to the bathroom.  
  
"Thanks. I didn't get finished reading it." Duo picked up the book and dropped to his knees in search of below Heero's bed. "Ah! There it is!"  
  
After Duo grabbed the magazine, he fled the room and across to his. Once entered, he placed the book on the dresser and stepped into the bathroom. Locking the door behind himself, Duo begin his readings and relief work. Heero laid back down on his bed, shut out the lights, and stared at the ceiling. He was in great need of stress relief and when he dropped his hands to the base of the bed, he felt to scream. All he felt was carpet when he was suppose to feel his magazine. He looked under his bed and found it missing.  
  
"Duo...omae o korusu!!!"


	5. Trowa's Training

Duo's Child

Chapter 5

Uno sat up one more morning in the bed and looked about; Duo still lay in bed. She shrugged and began to slide off the bed until that boyish cheery voice filtered the room.

"Don't you go anywhere…we're gonna' to have a fun day today so we got to get going." Duo spoke to her, his eyes still closed. Uno turned around to him.

"What about you?"

Duo sweat dropped. "Yeah…I'm getting up. Just resting from last weeks training. You take a lot out of me, ya' know that?"

Uno climbed up on his bed and stayed besides him. "That ended thwee days ago, Duo."

Duo sweat dropped once again. "Uh…heh heh…yeah." Duo grabbed Uno in a playful hug and she giggled some. "You're learning how to count well."

After a couple of minutes playing around and relaxing, Duo sat up and looked back at Uno. She smiled and he had no option but to smile back at her childish face.

"Well Uno, better get bathed and head out. We're taking you to the circus today." She smiled and watched as he straightened out some. "Ever been to a circus before?"

"Nuh uh." She shook her head and flung her braid around.

"Well…there's a first time for everything." He grinned, watching her braid flip around. _Great, first day of training, Trowa's style._

About two and a half hours later, Duo walks down the hall carrying a very happy Uno on top, they both swung their braids around as best as they could. Uno giggled as she caught Duo's braid and held on like a horse rein. Duo smirked as he stepped up to Heero and Quatre.

"Hi Cat-twa!" Uno smiled and waved her fingers. Quatre returned the same back to her then turned to Duo.

"You're late." Heero stated.

"No…you try and bathe two heads of long hair. See how long it takes you." Duo mocked.

"Hn." He nodded to Uno's appearance and walked out the door. Duo smirked at him.

"Well, aren't we just the speed demon today?"

"Duo, Trowa left already because his manager was getting fed up with his lateness. WuFei went with him so he wouldn't have to-"

"I know I know, so he wouldn't have to sit with two Maxwells. The nerve of that guy hurting Uno like that." Duo frowned and perked up once he remembered Uno's training. "Well, I doubt Catherine plans to wait forever, lets' go Uno!"

"Yay!" Uno hugged Duo's neck and ducked as they walked outside the door.

"Good grief." Giggled Quatre, shutting and locking the door behind them. "I only hope Catherine's not going to frighten little Uno at the center stage."

Two hours later, they arrived and back stage talking some with Trowa. Uno sat down on a seat besides the lion cage and looked at the cat. She smiled and leaned to the cage, trying to see if the big cat was bad. Trowa noticed and stepped up to her, lifting up her hand and holding it in the cage. She shook.

"Calm, little one. A wild animal can detect fear so it's best not to have any rather than to try and hide it." Trowa rubbed her back some and let go of her hand. "Keep your hand there and watch as he calms."

"…" Uno gulped and tried not to shake, trying to stifle a smile.

"A lion, like other beasts, only use their fangs when frightened. They're true to their feelings, try and compete as they do."

Duos smirked as he saw, from afar, the lion step up to them and allow both to pet its head. Catherine whispered to he and Quatre, turning Heero's attention away from the caged beast.

"So, she's the one I gotta' look for out there tonight?"

"Yeah, but be careful and gentle, this is her third week of training." Whispered Quatre as he answered and turned to her some. Catherine nodded in return.

"You can't miss by the Shinigami trademark, the braid." Duo grinned and watched as Uno stepped up to them. "Ready to go sit down?"

She nodded as Duo picked her up and carried her away. "I pet the lion!"

"You did! Great! At least one of us is allowed to!" Duo looked away in despise, he wasn't able to because the lion always tried to bite him.

Half an hour later, the show began and they watched as Trowa completed his beginning show of acrobats and stunts, a few left to go before his act finishes. Uno's mouth drew ajar some as she saw him ride the animals single handily without fault and as he tamed the lion fearlessly. Soon after, the area darkened somewhat and the spot light drown on the female star, Catherine.

"Tonight, for the knife throwing, we are going to do something different. Our Silent Clown will not be out star attraction on the target board." Catherine paused allowing a few 'awes' to sound throughout the stadium, then finished. "Instead of our Silent Clown, I will choose one person from the audience to be strapped to the board by our usual act."

Duo grinned, watching as Catherine looked around for a person when her choice had already been rigged. He leant down to Uno and whispered some to her.

"Don't you think it'll be scary to be chosen and have knives thrown at you?" Asked Duo, making her frightened as Catherine turned to their direction. Uno shook some.

"You! The girl in black with the braid! I choose you!" Catherine spoke out and pointed to Uno. Instantly, Uno shook and grabbed Duo's arm, she looked at him with a 'please tell them no' look.

"Nu uh, Uno…" Duo stood and withdrew his arm. "First day of training." Uno's eyes grew large.

"Good luck, Uno. Don't worry, Trowa'll be right besides you." Whispered Quatre as he helped Duo give Uno a little push out off the stands. Uno stood in place as Catherine stepped up to her and walked her to the center stage, speaking on the way and 'finding out' her name.

"…" Trowa stepped in front of Uno and guided her to the target board, strapping her in tightly. "Don't worry, little one. I'll be right here the entire time."

"…" Uno didn't move nor take her eyes off him.

Trowa leant over to her and whispered more to her. "Remember, don't move, don't show any fear, and don't think else of whatnot. Taking your eyes off the enemy may mean your death." He parted to the side and looked back at Catherine.

"Is she ready?" Asked Catherine, receiving but a nod.

"…" Uno gulped.

"Alright now, Uno, stay real still and this will end very fast." Catherine aimed and threw the first knife; it landed an inch away from Uno's left temple.

"!!!" Uno silently shrieked and thought about what Trowa said. _It's twue…I won't get huwt if I don't move. And Duo wouldn't let anything happen to me and I live with Twowa. What do I have to feaw about this—besides dying?_ Uno grinned while her mind drifted for a moment as she was told not to and didn't realize that four more knives were thrown at her body until the last one shined in her face. Uno's eyes blinked a quick split-second and she saw the knife slip out of Catherine's fingers a bit too early and fly directly at her face. Only a foot away and too fast for even Trowa to catch, the knife shined across the entire arena and instantly Uno saw the point arrive at her nose. Uno's quick reaction sped up some as the knife neared and she dropped her head rather fast downward, eyes still open as the knife flew right past where her neck now held her head and stabbed at the back target board, stubbing on the exact spot where her nose would have been.

Instantly, Catherine grabbed her hands across her mouth and Trowa stepped in front of the hanging body and questioned its awareness. Duo's eyes enlarged greatly as Quatre's hands hooked at his chest, Heero's eyes grew large watching and WuFei's attention got stronger.

"Uno?!" Trowa whispered shouted to her, hoping against all hope that she was fine. "Uno?!"

"…" Trowa removed the knife and faced her as she grinned. "I dwifted, Twowa." She faced him.

"You alright?" He asked.

"But I saw the shiny knife and ducked."

"…" Trowa blinked extremely shocked. "D-ducked?"

Uno lifted her head up to him and smirked. "Was that wong?"

Later, after the show, Duo was hugging Uno still since she returned five minutes after the shocking show and didn't stop from practically straining the poor child to death. Trowa returned and handed Uno a bag of cotton candy and Duo one as well, finally prying him off her.

"Trowa! Tell your stickin' sister to learn to throw properly! If Uno hadn't of ducked, I'd end up in jail right now for killing that prick!" Duo shouted as he took the bag of fluffy candy.

"I told her she was lucky. She said the knife slipped because she was frightened once again." Duo blinked.

"…Huh?"

Heero knelt down and allowed Uno to sit on his knee. He looked up and paid attention to the argument as he held Uno's back from falling.

"She said Uno had a similar look on her face as I had when I first was assigned that job." Duo glanced over to the smiling five-year-old sitting on Heero's knee eating cotton candy. "She said she had the look of death written on her face and Uno explained to me that before she noticed the knife, she had drifted away from reality into thought.

"But…" Duo looked back at Trowa. "You mean…Uno looks like she wants to die when she's not keeping a smile?"

Trowa nodded. "I saw it too but kept silent as to speak of it later."

That night as Duo laid Uno down in bed and tucked her in, he remembered her shocking achievement and questioned her about it.

"Uno?"

"Hm?"

"…About what happened today…" Duo sat down after covering her up and looked at her from his spot on his bed. "…How did you see the knife coming that fast at your face?"

"…The shine." Duo sweat dropped.

"…Gomen. I mean, you moved faster than any of us woulda'. How did you do it?"

"…I did?"

"Yeah, even Heero wouldn't be able to move that fast as you had."

"…I saw a knife at my face and ducked." Uno cuddled up.

"Well…what ever you did, I'm very grateful you done it." Duo kissed her forehead and laid down for his night's relaxation.

"Trowa…what happened? I nearly had a heart attack." Quatre watched as Trowa slid into bed, his heart still pounding from earlier.

"She just…ducked. Like nothing was wrong and something bad came at her." Trowa relaxed and faced his beloved.

Quatre blinked. "My goodness. Just like that?!"

Tuesday shined through and filtered through Duo's window, shining brightly into Uno's face. She opened her eyes to see Duo standing over her with a metal plate, shining the window's gleam in through the reflection of the metal. He grinned.

"Hi Uno! You're up early!"

"…Baka." She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Baka?! Do you know what that means?" Duo grinned at her.

Uno nodded. "WuFay said it and I asked Heewo what it means."

"And?"

"Idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"No…you'we a baka." Uno smiled at him and stood to hug him. Duo looked away grinning.

"I'll get you…it's not over yet."

"…" Uno yawned and sat back down, she looked up at him.

"Bath time?"

"No…" Duo inhaled. "Trowa says to dress in this, he's gonna' teach you to flex." Duo handed her a dance bodysuit.

"What is it?" Uno asked, taking it and sliding off the bed.

"It's a dance bodysuit. He's going to teach you acrobats."

"Acwobats?" Uno looked up at him.

"Yeah…you can put on a bathing suit, it's just like that."

"Okay…" Uno undressed and put her clothes on the bed.

"I'll be in the bathroom until you're ready." He stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. Playboy marked his eyes besides him and he grabbed at the magazine. Rolling it up and holding onto it, he stepped back out.

"Weady!" Uno smiled at him.

"Good! Now go on down to the living room and Trowa'll be there to accompany you." Duo opened the door for her.

"Kay."

"Good luck Uno."

"Bye!" Uno ran down the hallway to the living room. Duo stepped across the hall and stepped into Heero's room, hoping to be unnoticed until he heard the slam of the door on its hinges.

"Gah!" Duo spun around to see a grinning Heero leaning on the door. "Heero! I didn't mean to borrow it but I noticed it's an issue that I have yet to read!"

"You better watch yourself; Uno may ponder and look through it." Heero took a couple steps forward.

"Yeah, I know…and I understand I did wrong." Duo stumbled backwards and nearly fell on the bed. "And I'll never do it again."

"You owe me something, Duo." Grinned Heero; he stepped up to the braided American face-to-face, nose-to-nose, and eye-to-eye. "And you know what I want."

Heero shoved Duo down on his bed and watched as the braided baka sworn endlessly to never come near that perfect collection of Playboy again.

"Look, I don't have any money just yet! But I swear it, once I get it, I'll give it to you that night. Deal?!" Duo stressed and panicked.

Heero grinned. "Good, you owe me twenty-four dollars for those missing magazines you borrowed and never returned." Heero stepped away from the heavy breathing male on his bed.

Trowa placed his towel on the bench and watched as Uno stretched as Heero and Duo taught her. He smirked stepped up to her.

"Uno…" She looked up at him. "Remember, when stretching, whenever it hurts, calm it down. But if you feel it burning, keep it going for a little bit longer. That means it's working. Don't hold it for too long for that will cause sprains."

"Kay…" Uno flexed another way and stretched. Trowa stepped behind her and helped her some by pushing her back down a little more. He let go when he felt she finished stretching.

"Alright, follow me." She did and looked down at the balance beam that stood about a foot off the ground in yellow. "This is to help your balance. For the start, we'll begin on basic balancing. Then we'll go on to greater things and the end will cover jumps and landings on one hand and on wires as well."

Uno stepped up and stood on the yellow pole lifted up just a foot off the ground and looked down as she walked. Trowa walked along side of her and had her lift her head up.

"Don't look down. That causes fear to yourself and your mind; you will soon begin to think that you won't continue on and you'll fall. Use the bottom of your eyes to view your footsteps below and watch the pole ahead to know what happens." Uno nodded and reached the end. "Alright, now, instead of walking back as you had just done, try running at best you can without falling."

"…Okay." Uno turned around without using the ground and began to jog back to the opposite end. Once there, she looked at Trowa.

"Alright. That's good. Now, sit right there in the middle of the beam and try to form a V with your body. I'll help you there." Trowa guided her to the center and showed her how to shaper her body. At first, Uno struggled, but soon she found it pretty easy and held there for sometime.

"Okay." Uno stood and watched as Trowa stood up on the beam besides her and guided her off to watch him. "Notice what I will be doing. I'm going to stretch my body backwards and do a slow back flip on the beam. I will use my hands to grip hold of the beam and hoist my legs to the other side, but not gripping too tight for I need to be able to move my fingers and turn my body backwards." Uno watched Trowa do a backwards handstand and complete it by landing back on his feet, balanced.

"Wow."

"Not quite there yet, Uno." Trowa smirked. "Alright, can you do a backwards handstand?"

"No."

"Very well then…" Trowa stepped behind her and held her back around her waist and used his other hand to guide her neck and upper chest backwards. "Lift up your arms and turn your hands forward, palms reaching for the sky. Once you have that down…good…lift up your weakest leg straight towards the sky as well and reach downward for the ground with your hands; your palms should now be able to hold your body up on the ground. Once you have completed those, do not wait a second to lift and bring your other leg backwards to meet with your previous leg, which is up in the air. Then, after you have found both legs up in the air, once again do not wait, but automatically bring them down…like so…and stand back up somewhat slowly as to not pull yourself backwards."

"I did one!" Uno smiled at Trowa.

"Yes you did, now don't move and I will teach you the other kind of backward handstand." Trowa began to guide her lower body and upper chest once again and lowered her body backwards. "Alright, notice…if you can…how your leg is once again up in the air but instead of bringing your other leg up to meet it, use this leg to throw your body weight where your hands are at and lift your opposite leg up off the ground after you feel your previous leg meeting nearby with your hands. You'll end up doing a backwards cartwheel in the end." Uno stood back up and faced him, smiling. "Very good."

"Yay!" Uno cheered and took a sip of water after Trowa handed her the bottle.

Duo sat in the kitchen eating a ham sandwich as Quatre stepped inside.

"Hi Duo."

"Quatre…I can tell you want to train Uno right now." Duo swallowed his bite.

"I just can't wait, she's so cute when she eats with the silverware at meal times." Quatre hugged himself some and smiled, shutting his eyes.

"…Quatre…save that look for Trowa." Duo took another bite as Quatre frowned at him. "What exactly is Trowa teaching her?"

"…Acrobats at the moment…Duo, perhaps you should join Uno's training next week."

"Why? I don't lack leadership qualities, do I?"

"It's not that, Duo…you're speaking with your mouth full."

"…" Duo shut up and finished his sandwich in silence.

Uno rested some that afternoon and watched as Trowa moved swiftly on the balancing beam poles. So far, she's completed the basic course of back flips and balancing. All that she had left in his training was the gun range and extreme acrobats, which he uses mostly. He stepped up to her and received his water bottle from her, also helping her up some.

"That concludes today's lessons for you."

"Why so eawly?" She asked him, hugging the towel he wrapped around her.

"I want you to go read. Go change and head to the library; you should know where it is now." She nodded at him as they neared the door. "Then return to me with a book you think you can read and by the end of the week, I'll ask you to show me where you are and explain what you read so far. You'll see me in the living room."

"Alwight." Uno ran off and passed by WuFei. He noted her outfit and looked back at Trowa.

"So, how's that onna doing?"

"She's not half bad, really. She knows balance pretty well but not enough to save her in dangerous times."

"Hn." WuFei snorted. "Seems like a weakling to me."

"She's weight training when she's not reading or playing, Duo told me. She usually asks Duo to teach her more and help her and he also agrees because she can just barely hold up a gun in one hand."

Uno cleaned up some and dressed and could now be found in the library, looking around the bottom shelves for a book. So far, all she found were big books and she still wasn't capable of reading more than twenty-five pages each time. She bent down and lifted up a book, smiling at its cover. A Unicorn with a rainbow was painted across a waterfall with an angelic fairy beneath it. She hugged the book and turned back to the door. Trowa sat in the love seat chair with Quatre on the arm of it, speaking with WuFei across the room about the Preventers job and its sudden raise in work.

Trowa looked over as Uno neared him, holding up the book. "Hm…Fantasy Gardens. I read that once before." He looked down at her. "Remember, I said by the end of the week I will see where you are in there and ask you about it."

"Okay." She nodded and headed back down the hallway towards the rooms.

"So cute!" Quatre hugged himself again in awe as Trowa smirked.

"So stupid." WuFei mocked and left the room past a now grumpy Quatre who eyes him.

Uno woke up Wednesday morning and yawned. She slid out of bed and went to the dresser to get an early start in training with Trowa; she enjoyed ending training early to give her more time to play, read, or weight lift. As she neared the dresser, she heard the door to her room creak open and her automatic reaction was to run to the side of the room and duck behind the door, staying low to the floor. She looked up and saw Duo tip toeing in the room, shutting the door, and heading over to her bed with a bell. She grinned and followed and as he neared her bed closer, she stood and grabbed his braid, yanking it downward and shocking him completely as he spun around. Duo gasped and fell back on her bed, shocked she was up before he had to wake her.

"Uno!"

"Duo!"

"Uno…what the…"

"Yes?" Uno smiled at him.

"…I can't believe Shinigami is getting beaten by a little five-year-old." Uno giggled. "Oh, hehehaha…"

"Duo looses to Shinimegami!" Uno smiled and thus causing Duo to grab her tightly and hug her guts nearly to her throat.

"Uno!"

"Duo!"

"My cute Uno!"

"I can't bweath!" Duo let go and chuckled as she laughed.

"Sweetie, Trowa says to meet him in the gun range. You know where that is, right?" He received a nod. "Good…go get dressed and good luck. His skill for today is _hard_."

"…" Uno gulped. "What is it?"

"Can't tell, but you're getting better on speaking, I hear it." Uno smiled. "Go get ready." Duo kissed her forehead and left the room.

Trowa stood in the gunroom reviewing the weight difference between each Gatling gun for Uno; he hoped she remembered the way to the room and which door it was. The knob to the room twisted and opened, revealing a small braided girl named Uno. She smiled when she saw Trowa and shut the door behind herself.

"Hey little one, come here and try and lift this big gun up. I'm not sure if it's light enough for you."

"Okay." Uno stepped up to him and bent down to grasp the handles. When she lifted the gun just about a foot, she lowered her body on to one knee and rested the heavy artillery onto her other.

"Hm. You may need to gain the muscle to lift it. You'll have to do that on your own, we ran out of time already." Trowa stepped away from her and returned an extra chain of ammo. "Try to aim for the most of the enemy. Once you see enough, fire. It is all right to miss as long as you know you're close enough to it. Continue to fire at a rapid pace and only use your greater weapons when you feel you have to. When an enemy is low in count compared to usual rapid fire, only use a small amount. Or, if the enemy is one or two against you, use your switchblade." Trowa placed a switchblade down on the table besides her and watched as her eyes looked over it.

"It's a knife."

"That's right. Don't rely on bullets all the way for if you do, you won't know what to do once you run out of bullets." Trowa turned her eyes away from the knife and to a target at the end of the room. "Alright, this is just one…but…I'm adding more targets to the wall right now and the amount will triple to that of many."

"Okay." Uno watched as Trowa sent more target machines to the back with the original and looked back down to her once finished.

"Alright, now, try to aim for the greatest amount and fire when you believe you're ready." He stepped back as she lifted the gun just a little more and took aim of the middle of the crowd.

"Hm." Uno's eyes narrowed as she took aim and prepared to fire. She did and began to blast right threw the first few targets, soon sending more bullets out to the other areas further away and noticing some targets moving closer. Just as the machines inched closer to her with it's target board, Uno sent rounds of bullets through endless calls of Hell; basically stating, she tore through all the signs as a synch.

"Hm…not bad." Trowa's eyes flickered a second in thought as she dropped the gun off her knee, letting it clatter to the ground. She breathed heavy and looked back over to him as her legs gave way and she plopped down backwards to the floor below.

"…" Breathing heavy, she looked up at Trowa as he glanced at every target board posted.

He looked back down to her and smiled some. "Great job, Uno. You destroyed all of the targets. Now…I will teach you about the switchblades." He helped Uno up off the ground and pushed the gun aside. He then retrieved the knife and held it, showing her.

"…" Uno looked at its decoration and design; defiantly button pressed.

"Uno, this here is a switchblade. If you get caught with it outside of this house, you'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Why?"

"It's illegal to own."

"…Oh…" Uno gulped some; she was never handed something illegal.

"But, if you hide it and use it only when you need to fight for life, you're allowed by our hands. You'll be in trouble, but it's better to be in trouble with the law than get killed because you're not allowed to use the only defense weapon you have on you at that moment."

"Alwight."

"Now, when you hold it…" Trowa placed the knife in her hand and guided her fingers around the handle so she knows how to use the sharp weapon. "Do not have your fingers over this tops slit here, this is where the knife raises from. This button here…as you just saw, once pressed it triggers the blade inside and shoots the object out into the open. This is why the law states these illegal. You may pressure this up against someone's chin and press the button—either by accident or by fault—but either way, you'll kill instantly once done. You may be forced to kill if your life depends on it, but remember that if you do, you must have a perfected reason why…otherwise the law wouldn't have any pity on you."

"Okay."

Duo stepped through the front door humming and startled Quatre as he stepped by.

"Duo! By Allah you frightened me." Quatre crossed his hands at his chest.

"…Oops." Shrugged Duo as he shut the door to the outside world.

"What did you go do?"

"Went to Hildie's."

"Oh…may I ask why?" Quatre questioned nosily.

"Yeah…had to get something." Duo blushed and walked away.

"Oh…perhaps I shouldn't question it." Quatre followed Duo down to the living room, giggling some to him. "I just hope Uno doesn't become as…unique as you."

"What's that mean?" Duo spun around and asked, sounding annoyed.

"Oh nothing…" Chuckled Quatre as he stepped on by to his office. "Well, Trowa and Uno are in the gun range learning long rounded targets and knives."

"Cool."

"I only wish he'd choose another type of knife for her, a switchblade? That's illegal."

"Only if you show it to the world."

Quatre sighed and shook his head some. "I'll be in my office if you need me. Ne?"

"Hai." Duo waved Quatre off and sat down, seeing Heero step into the room. "Hiya' Hee-man!"

"Hn." Heero ignored Duo and sat down across the room on the sofa. He picked up the controller and turned on the television to the news.

"I don't have the money, yet."

"I'll get it from you tonight whether you like it or not." Heero sat back into the cushions and ignored the rest that Duo would say. Luckily, Duo sighed and left the room.

Later that night, Uno couldn't be found anywhere Duo searched and explored. He decided to stop in kitchen and ask Quatre and WuFei for Uno's about. WuFei mocked him and Quatre simply looked up happily.

"Hello Duo."

"I can't find Uno!!! Put her face on those box milk cartons!" Duo panicked.

Quatre sweat dropped. "Um…Duo…Uno's in the library with Trowa, reading.

Duo sweat dropped. "She is? Why?"

"Baka…she's learning how to read so she can go to school with a beginners education." Sneered WuFei.

"How good is she so far?" Duo asked, leaning on the wall behind and resting his head in his hands.

"Pretty well. She's gone rather far these past couple weeks in learning how to read and write."

"Write too?!" Duo shouted, his eyes enlarged with surprise.

"Yup. Trowa and I have been teaching her."

"…How come she never told me these things?"

"Why didn't you ever ask?" WuFei questioned as Duo sweat dropped.

"I…errr…hmph." Duo silence and waited five minutes before leaving.

"I wonder how Duo will react when I tell him this weekend I'm enrolling Uno in class." Quatre pondered; WuFei stood and left, rumbling about the injustice of Duo's immaturity towards Uno.

The Thursday morning begin off with rain and as Duo stepped inside his room around midday, he found Uno looking out his window. He sat behind her and hugged her with a smile.

"It's waining outside."

Duo nodded. "Yeah, they say it's gonna' get bad tonight…think you can handle it?"

Uno pouted and faced him. Obviously, Duo must have forgotten something to cause her to get saddened and he blinked in thought.

"It was bad when I was outside."

"I…" Duo shut up and hugged Uno. "Gomen sweetie."

Uno snuggled into Duo more as she rested there. Duo looked out the window and smiled some.

"Dress for Twowa today?" Uno looked up and faced him.

"Yeah…and hey, maybe if there's time, we can go outside in the backyard and play in the rain! Just you and me!" Duo did his tight smile and Uno nodded. She slid off as he stepped out and dressed in her aerobics clothes. Once finished she found Quatre in the living room reading the newspapers about political issues and hugged him from behind. Quatre blinked.

"Hi Uno!" He hugged her back.

"Hi."

"Trowa's in the gym waiting for you. Go on ahead."

"Bye-bye." Uno ran off.

"Cute." Quatre sighed.

Trowa was fixing his man-made tight rope when Uno stepped inside the doors. "Hey there little one, come over here and let me see if this is high enough for you."

"What are we going to do today?" Uno stepped up to him and looked up at the rope above her head.

"Hm…seems about right." He faced her again. "You're going to learn to walk on the tight-rope today. That means traveling from that side…to over there on the other side, without assistance of anything to hold you." He pointed out to her.

"…" Uno gulped as she looked up at it; it was at least twice his height high.

"Don't worry, I'll be below you the entire time."

Trowa guided Uno over to the latter and had her climb up it. Once Uno reached the top and stood still, she noticed the height seemed to have changed some and her feelings began to get dizzy.

"Alright…now I'm below you so if you should fall I'll catch you. Spread your arms out if you think you won't keep balance and began walking as slowly as you can. Try not to look down either and be sure you keep your feet firmly set on the rope."

"Uh huh." Uno gulped and nodded, doing as he said and spread her arms. Her feet began to press on the rope and she noticed the rope give in a little to her weight.

"Don't worry Uno, I'm right below you. Stop panicking and just walk; remember what I told you, danger will happen if you show fear."

"…" Uno continued and began to hold her entire body up on the rope itself.

"Good, you're doing good so far. If you feel like you won't make it, change the length of your footsteps. Try larger or smaller; whichever will help you easier."

"…" Uno gulped again and tried staying the same. About two feet away from her starting point, the rope began to waver and she decided to take smaller steps. With seven feet of rope left to go, her body weight started to lower the strength and caused her to waver herself. In less than a split second, the rope slipped out from beneath her feet and this caused Uno to fall about twelve feet from the air; luckily, Trowa was below to catch her before she hit the bottom.

"Well, you did make it an extra step than what I was intending you would. But you still showed fear." He looked down at her after he put her down. "Uno, I keep telling you to stop showing fear or having any. If you do you won't ever be able to go as far as you plan to. Yes, you can make it to your goal, but without fear you have nothing holding you back from going over the given amount. Don't let people assume anything about you because then they will most likely know you."

"Hide myself?"

"No, not exactly, but go further than what others intend of you to do. Don't just do enough to get by, go beyond that. Even when you begin school, make yourself go as well as you can and you'll eventually see people, not only getting jealous, but people looking up at you." Trowa explained.

Duo stepped in from outside, soaked in the rainwaters and stood in the kitchen.

"DUO!" Quatre shouted as he stepped into the kitchen and froze in shock; Duo looked like the 'creature from the black lagoon' with his wet hair draped down.

"Yes?"

"Dry off out here! Don't you dare step on my carpet as drenched as you are!" Quatre tossed Duo a few towels from a cabinet. "I don't want Uno to end up doing what you're doing."

"Uh…heh heh…yeah…right." Duo sweat dropped and wiped away the idea of playing with Uno outside in the rain.

WuFei stepped inside and stopped dead in his tracks once he noticed Duo. "Why were you outside, might I ask? Or is it not safe to know why?"

"Um…just going for a stroll in Quatre big outback."

"In the rain?" WuFei asked, mumbling as he sat down at the table.

Several times Uno fell and each time she became about a half step closer to the end, but only this last time she was giving it was in the middle area.

"Uno…I understand you're getting pretty fed up with this and showing anger is just about as bad as showing fear. I'll let you go for the day once you manage to walk the tightrope once without falling."

"Wat if I never do?" Uno mumbled to herself. She began walking the rope once more and this time was growling inside. Although she didn't show her anger, Uno was pretty ticked off and by the time she made it to the middle of the rope; she managed to pull it off quite nicely. Still, she continued grumbling about falling five times this day and when she stepped her last foot length on the opposite ending, it wasn't until Trowa congratulated her that she was back into reality.

"Great job Uno. You finally made it to the other side and without cause I have to add in. Hop on down and I'll catch you."

"…" Uno blinked and dropped. She let Trowa catch her once more and looked up at him after she stood back on the ground.

"You completed today's task. Tell me Uno, what made you finally walk the tightrope without falling?" Trowa leant down to her.

"Um…I didn't think about it." Uno shrugged.

Trowa blinked. "Like you didn't think about ducking that knife?" Uno nodded.

"Uh huh."

"Um…hm." Trowa stood and guided Uno to the door. "I'll wrap things up her Uno. Go on ahead and continue reading that book."

"Okay. Bye!"

Trowa shut the door behind her and began to think. "Ducking and thinking out of reality? Uno sure has something special about her that's revealing slowly."

Once Uno entered the room, Duo jumped and yelped. She blinked and shut the door, then refaced him. He zipped up his jeans.

"Uno…thought you were Heero or someone."

"…" Uno looked down to the floor at his wet clothes with question.

"I was outside. Sorry we gotta' cancel that play time, though."

"Okay. Trowa wants me to read." Uno sat on her bed and grabbed her book.

"I like your vocabulary now, you've improved. What else do you know?" Uno shrugged. "Okay then. Any who, sorry for yelping at you, Heero's looking for something of mine and…"

Uno hugged Duo and shut him up. Uno's cuddle caused Duo to smile and drop to the floor, bear hugging her back greatly.

"Ahh…Uno I can never get enough of ya'!" Duo smiled his smile and they waved at each other as she left the room once again. Duo spun around and grabbed his wet clothes and piled them up in the bin when his room lights suddenly flickered. Before Duo could realize someone else was in the room with him, he was flung around quickly and pinned to the wall forcefully by his collarbone and an arm pressuring against his chest.

"Duo, I said you owed me by tonight!"

"Heero, please! I said I'll get you your cash when I get it myself! Believe me, you know I don't lie!"

"Hn…so you say." Heero's hand traveled downwards and went inside one of Duo's pockets, causing Duo to yelp.

"Um…Heero! That's private!"

Heero released his hand from the pocket with a wad of tens in his hand. "And this is private property of myself." Heero released him and began his way out of the door.

"Hey! That's my money I was saving for Hildie! Come on man, have a heart! I said I'd get you the money!"

"And you just had." Heero shut the door; Duo growled.

Thursday, Duo was prepared for Uno before six. He had to get up and beg Quatre for money for Hildie—thanks to Heero—and beg to let Quatre understand Duo'll return the favor. He crept into the bedroom and over to Uno's bed. He smirked; Duo so loved his idea. As soon as he reached Uno's bedside, he lifted up her braid and began unraveling it from the tie below. Quickly, Uno's eyes shot open and she jumped up automatically and stood on the bed, glaring at Duo and holding her braid. Duo blinked in a rather fast motion unable to believe what had just happened.

"Dang Uno…a little uptight about our braid, are we?"

Uno breathed heavy. "Duo…" Uno glared him and sat back down on his bed. "Meany."

Duo sweatdropped. He then sat down besides her and hugged her. "Mornin' sweetie, Trowa's wants you in the gym again. Can you do that?"

Uno nodded. "Mowe?"

"Yep." Duo stood. "You know where it is by now, right?" Uno nodded. "Good…and later, me and Hildie are taking you out for a treat." Duo left the room.

Trowa was looking around the gym and trying to see where exactly he should begin with Uno; he didn't know what she was prepared to do in his terms. The door to the gym opened and Uno walked inside and yawned as Trowa stepped up to her. She looked awfully tired.

"Sleepy?" Trowa asked.

"Duo touched my bwaid." Uno frowned.

Trowa smirked, she's defiantly getting defensive over her hair too. "Well, what do you think you need the help on with the training from Tuesday? You think you can go on to another level of stunts?"

Uno shrugged. "…"

"Alright then." Trowa helped her up onto the yellow balance-training beam. "Last time, I had you walk this, now try running it without falling down."

Uno nodded and did as told. She felt to slip a few times only she ended up bringing herself back. When she reached the end, she turned around and returned back to her other side. Trowa nodded.

"Good, good. Now, let's teach you some stretching techniques, alright?" Uno stepped up to Trowa and nodded.

Duo was once again preparing an early lunch when Quatre stepped into the kitchen. Duo smiled at him and put away the meats.

"Hey Quatre…sup buddy?" Duo sat down with his sandwich as Quatre just looked at him funny.

"Duo…it's ten in the morning…"

"Yeah…and I'm hungry."

Quatre smirked. "Dear Allah, hope Uno won't become a hungry household member like yourself." Quatre sat down.

"Thanks for the compliment." Duo snorted; Quatre giggled.

"Duo…this weekend, I'm thinking of enrolling Uno into school. I believe-" Duo cut Quatre off.

"No."

Quatre blinked. "What? Duo, she needs to go to school."

"No."

"Duo-"

"I said no Quatre!" Duo gulped his bite. "For one, we're not finished with the trainings…at least to you! And second, I don't want them to treat her as a bad person if she's not on their knowledge level."

"Duo, she's been learning a lot these past weeks. Trowa and I taught her to read and write a little-"

"What about math? Life itself? How to fight? Quatre, I've been to school a few times and only because Sister Helen wanted me to. I was kicked out each day because of the fights I caused. And why did I cause them, you ask? Because the people there were jerks." Duo prepared to stand up.

"…Duo, this is a different time now and-"

"No. I don't care, and besides, she's not legally your child, remember? Hildie and I are." Duo stood with his plate and drink and walked out of the kitchen. He shoved past Heero and went to the living room.

Heero blinked. "Duo's mad?"

Quatre sighed. "Yeah, because I told him I was going to enroll Uno into school this weekend."

"You wouldn't be able to, you need the guardians signature." Heero reached for a water bottle from the fridge.

"I know, but since the school was built by my father, I'm sure I would be able to get her in without any hassle."

"It wouldn't matter. Without the signature of both Duo and Hildie, you can't enroll Uno into a class." Heero left the kitchen.

Trowa and Uno were taking a water break when Duo stepped into the gym. Uno perked up seeing him, but was too sore to stand up. She noticed Duo was a little unhappy so she just sat and watched, sullen on features and drank her water.

"Trowa, can I have a word with you." Duo stood at the doorway.

Trowa blinked. "Sure." He stepped up to Duo.

"Quatre insists to enroll Uno into school this weekend. What do you have to say about your side with him?"

Trowa blinked; Duo was more than angry. "Um…I believe she is ready-" Duo cut him off.

"What about her math skills? Her social skills? The kids in school would be rude to her and of what we taught her, she'd fight back."

Trowa thought about what he said and realized this weekend _would_ be a little too soon. "Well, then when do you suppose?"

"How about after Quatre has his week with her? That way she has more time to learn and with Quatre's skills, she can learn how to speak to people rather than fight." Duo crossed his arms.

"Why do you believe Uno'll get into fights when she begins?" Trowa asked.

"Because I had each day I went when I was younger, and was kicked out each. Bullies were bad and now they're probably worse. With what we taught Uno, I don't want her to become an illegal student for schools."

Trowa took this into consideration. "I understand. I need to return to training her right now, but ask WuFei if he would be able to teach Uno some skills on math. If you can, don't try if you get hurt."

"I know." Duo left.

Trowa returned to Uno. "Ready to continue on?" She nodded and he began more aerobic skills with her.

Duo stepped up to Heero and began. "Heero…you know of a way to teach Uno math? Trowa tells me to go to WuFei but I don't want him to beat me up. I'm in a bad enough mood as it is."

"Hn." Heero began typing on his laptop.

Duo sighed. "Forget it."

Later that day, Uno stepped into the bedroom and found Duo lying back on his bed. With the tough day she's had and felt Duo have the same, she thought cheering him up Shinimegami-style would be great. She jumped up onto the bed besides him and smiled down at him as he opened his eyes. Both stared into each others eyes and Duo suddenly smiled.

"You're braids falling apart." Uno began to frown when he mentioned her braid. "I'm sorry about earlier Uno. I only meant to wake ya' up…not get you mad with me."

"Okay." Uno lay beside him and both hugged.

"Uno…come up, get up." She sat up as Duo sat up and looked at her. "Let's go get you washed and I'll take you over to Hildies. Okay? We got a treat for you."

"Yay!!" Uno smiled and hugged Duo.

Duo blinked, she hasn't done this in a while. He carried her into their bathroom and put her back down onto the floor, then began the filling the tub with water. Uno began undressing herself and when she turned back around, Duo was holding up a shampoo bottle.

"Maple!! We ran out of strawberries so I got us Maple!!" Duo sweatdropped as Uno giggled. She stepped into the tub and he began lathering up her hair.

"Smells funny." Sniffed Uno.

"I know…it does. Makes me hungry." Uno nodded; Dup took some shampoo foam and dabbed it on her nose. "Bubble nose!!" Duo tight smiled.

"Hehehe." Uno blew upward and watched as the foam on her nose blew away and created bubbles.

"So Uno…how much you think you know for school?"

Uno shrugged. "Why?"

"Well…I was thinking of bringing you in to enroll in a few weeks. You think you wanna' go to school?"

"…" Uno blinked; she didn't know what school was. "What is it?"

"A place to learn." Duo spoke bluntly.

"Like here?"

"Well…they teach you more. Do you know any math?" Duo dumped water on her head with a cup of water.

Uno nodded lightly. "Trowa said he taught me…basics?"

"Ah…simple math."

Uno shrugged as she received a lathered bath sponge from Duo. She began washing herself as Duo released his braid and brushed it, facing the mirror and keeping an eye on Uno.

"I must say, Uno…you're pretty mature for your age." Duo turned around and faced her. "Even though you're five-years-old and Halloween is in only a month away, soon to be making you six-years-old…you still act around the age of ten."

Uno faced him. "…"

"Are you sure you didn't lie to me back then?" Duo smirked and leaned his hands on his hips. Uno shook her head.

"I'm five." She smiled and finished washing herself. Duo stepped up to her and grinned.

"I know of a way to make you tell me the truth!" Uno blinked as Duo knelt down to her. He began tickling her all over her body where he somehow knew she was weak in.

Uno began laughing, squirming to get away from Duo. "Duo…stop!! Hehe, pwease!"

"Not until you tell me your real age!!" Duo laughed with her.

"I'm five!!" Uno continued to squirm around and reached for Duo's hair. He brought it in to the tub waters with her and laughed at him. Duo sweatdropped; he forgot his hair wasn't in it's braid anymore.

"Great…not I gotta' take a bath."

"Hehehe." Uno giggled. She reached over and kissed his nose.

"Oh hehe, haha…" Duo side glared her and smirked. He reached over and hugged Uno as he lifted her out of the tub.

"I'm getting you wet now!!" Uno stood and looked at him.

"Yeah yeah…I gotta' bathe myself now anyways." Duo sweatdropped again. "Go on and get dressed while I go wash up. I'll be down soon."

"Okay." Uno nodded and walked back into the bedroom to dress.

About an hour later, Duo stepped out into the living room, his hair tied into a wet braid, and his usual black attire covering his body. He stopped when he saw Uno curled up on the couch with the book Trowa had her reading. He smiled and brushed her hair.

"Hey Uno…good book?" Duo asked.

Uno nodded. "With a unicorn!" Uno shut the book and stood up.

"Where in there are you?" Uno showed him her spot. "Ah…looks about twenty pages worth; good girl."

Uno smiled. Wat's the tweat, Duo?"

"Well…why don't we get to Hildie's and find out." Duo knew what the treat was, but played it stupid to get to Uno. He guided Uno down the hallway and out the front door.

"Wow." Uno turned around to look at the front of the house for her first time.

"Yeah…big isn't it? Hey…you were asleep when you first came here last month…so this is actually your first time viewing the front of the mansion, isn't it?" Uno nodded and Duo took her hand. "Come on sweetie. In you go." Duo opened up his car door and sat her in the seat. He buckled her up and shut the door. He then traveled around the other side and sat in.

"This Uno…is one of the fastest cars ever made." He looked at her as he started up the engine.

"Dwiving U-S-A!!" Uno cheered.

"Heh…near it, but this time you can get killed in."

Duo began driving away in his black Vet and began towards Hildies. Uno reached herself up and sat on her knees to look out the window at the objects that flew by. They arrived at Hildie's and Uno jumped out as Duo held the door open for her. When they entered Hildie's, Uno hugged her and received a puppy puzzle as a present. Uno was happy enough, then ran into the living to begin on it. After they ate dinner there and spoke some, grown proud about Uno with her 250 piece puzzle she completed in under two hours, Duo lifted her up in his arms and drove home.

Friday, Uno sat up and looked over to see Duo laying in his bed. She grinned and crawled over to tackle him, but to her surprise, he grabbed her and tickled her.

"DUO!" Uno laughed.

"Nu uh!! I knew you were up to something, little one!" Duo cheered on and sat up. Uno finally managed to get away and hopped off the beds.

"Stay back." She spoke, hugging her braid.

"Aww…how cute. You hug your braid for safety." Duo chuckled and stood. "Well…it's time for your test of Trowa's training, think you're ready?" Uno shrugged.

"I dunno." She turned and began walking into the bathroom; Duo followed behind.

About two hours later, Uno hopped into the living room where Trowa was and smiled at him.

"Hey there, you and Duo finally get up?" Uno nodded at Trowa. Trowa stood up.

"Yeah…he tickled me." Uno frowned; Trowa smirked.

"Well, you're test isn't really going to be anything major as Heero and Duo's were, alright?" Uno nodded. "You know not to be scared about death, like the circus. It takes time to learn the movements of acrobats I taught you, and weight lifting is what you need more of to be able to hold the gateling gun properly; you're not bad now, but you can do better."

"Alright." Uno nodded as she watched Trowa kneel down to her.

"Alright…tell me about your book. Fantasy Gardens if I remember it was, with the unicorn on top. What did you read about it so far?"

"Well…Duo said I rwead about twenty pages…um, thewe's a unicorn who lives in the forest and a pwincess who ran away because she was fowced to mawwy and she didn't want to."

"Alright, did you get any further than that?" Uno shook her head. "That's good enough, you understood it well. I remember reading that long ago, good book, fairly complicated. No, let's head out into the living room and I want you to show me what you can do on your own, got it?"

"Okay!" Uno nodded her reply and followed Trowa out into the hallway.

"Okay…now, do you remember to do a handstand?"

"Yes." Uno leant forward and grabbed the ground with her hand. She then lifted her legs and tried to stay up, but ended up doing a flip.

Trowa frowned. "Well…you need to practice on that one." Uno stood. "How about back flips?"

"Yes." Uno nodded and did a back flip to show. She did the ordinary kind and the single foot kind, where one foot goes back at a time instead of both together.

Trowa quirked a smirked; she was getting the hang of the stuff rather quickly.

Duo tapped on Heero's door and stepped inside when Heero said, "Hn."

"Thanks for the intro."

"What do you want?" Heero asked, turning to face him.

"To repay you. For all that I owed you." Duo lugged out from his back pocket a one hundred dollar bill. "Hildie gave it to me cuz I said I owed you."

"Hn." Heero grabbed the money and handed Duo back the stolen money he took the day before.

"Geese Heero! I thought you used this up!"

"No, now get out."

Duo grinned. "Hell, yes!" Duo ran out of the room.

"Hn, baka." Heero sat back down and continued reading up about future missions Dr. J has sent him; he growled in thought.

Quatre leant on the wall and watched as Trowa and Uno talked about his week training for her and about the book she read. He smiled and was hardly unable to obtain himself for the next week—his training—and smiled even more as he saw how cute she looked when she replied and did her learned stunts. He stayed silent and watched.

"Well Uno, I do believe you have completed and passed my week."

"Yay!" Uno cheered.

Trowa smiled. "Good work. I'm sure Duo will be proud of his little Shinimegami."

Uno nodded. "Yep!"

"Why don't you go search for him and show him what you know? You know, the Shinimegami sort of way."

Uno giggled and ran off towards their rooms. She snuck into the room in stealth mode and found the bathroom light on. She snuck into the bathroom and found Duo with his top off, his hair wet, and him braiding it, back to her, head upside down facing her view. She grinned and reached up towards the counter, and grabbed his hair tie. When Duo was ready and stood back up holding onto his wet braid, he looked around frantically and couldn't locate his hair tie anymore. He heard a faint giggle from behind him and spun around to find Uno giggling cutely, holding his hair tie in the form of a gun with her fingers—Heero's teachings, he knew it to be—and flung it at his face. She laughed as he growled with a smirk, and then put his braid together with the tie. He faced her.

"I pity WuFei when you get older…I actually pity that boy."


	6. Quatre's Training

Duo's Child

Chapter 6

Monday arrived pretty soon and both Duo and Uno were non-amazingly still asleep. As each opened their eyes to daze into the posters of Deathscythe on the ceiling, a knock was heard at the door. Duo looked over, also noting that Uno had just woken up, and began.

"Yeah?" Duo asked.

"Duo…how long are you two going to sleep?" The voice was Quatre's.

"We're just getting up. Give us about half an hour."

"Alright."

Duo looked down at Uno as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes and smiled at him. Duo smiled back and hugged her tightly. He then stood from his bed and began heading towards his dresser. He knew Quatre was anxious to begin teaching Uno, especially at—Duo glanced at the clock—one in the afternoon. He turned and tossed Uno some clothes as she began stepped up to him.

Quatre was sitting in the living room with Trowa as WuFei stormed into view. Quatre blinked.

"Hello WuFei."

"Hn, that baka up yet?"

"Duo? No, he's just now dressing." Quatre pondered. "Why?"

"Because he scratched my bike! I ought to go touch his damn vet if he thinks he can own the damn driveway." WuFei removed his sword from his belt.

"You better have not even come near to that thing." Duo entered with Uno on his back. "I swear I'll hurt you if you do."

"God." WuFei rolled his eyes and left the room. Duo faced Quatre and smiled.

"About time you two get up." Quatre spoke.

"Yeah well…I'm tired and Uno too I guess. So…what you gonna' teach our little devil?" Duo asked, mentioning Uno.

"The same thing I want you to join in on…" Quatre began walking towards the dining area. "Manners."

Duo froze. "What the…you don't think I got manners? Shit…some rudeness I get."

Quatre poked his head out from around the corner. "Watch your mouth Duo."

Duo sweat dropped. "Uh…heh heh…oops." He followed.

Once in the dining room, Duo found Quatre by the kitchen door with a plate of utensils on hand. Duo set Uno down on the ground and watched as Quatre began.

"Okay, Uno…setting the table is a big part of helping out for the family." Duo reddened some as he spoke of family and since everyone pretty much was the family combined.

"Okay." Uno nodded.

"Now, setting the table when told is good, but you should try and help out before you are told to do whatever the helping course of action is." Quatre moved to the table and set down the plate. "Now I will begin by teaching you the proper placements of table setting. Then after that, table manners; I think by then Duo will be paying attention."

Duo snapped out of his sudden daze at the sound of his name, "What?"

"Hm," Quatre smirked and looked back at Uno; Duo knew Quatre was dead serious, because the blonde looked unhappy right then. He sat up and began paying attention.

"Okay." Uno sat down on her knees on a chair besides Quatre.

"Okay, to begin, the plate sits in the center of all visual things. Like so…notice how there are two plates stacked together; this is because usually meals contain two courses and without having to get another plate or clean off the first, once the top, or place plate—which is usually the appetizer—is removed by the staff or host or whoever, the second plate—which is larger by an in all around—is used as the dinner plate. Now there is a difference in formal setting and informal setting. I will teach you both because formal is more important and informal is when you are just with one other person and no absolute…occurrence." Quatre watched his words to try and make better sense of his teachings.

"I'm watchin' ya too, don't worry. Formal and informal; I got ya," Duo winked.

"Good, because you will be taking the test as well, Duo." Quatre smirked some and faced Uno again. Duo swallowed the heavy load that was stuck in his throat because Quatre was acting like an actual parent to Uno _and_ himself.

"Now…on both, formal and informal table setting, the place fork is set right besides the plate to your left with the salad fork directly after that." Quatre placed his utensils down and watched Uno follow her moves; Duo just watched.

"Wat's the difference between fowmal and infowmal?" Ask Uno.

"Formal has more objects; though many may not get used, it's still best to set them there," Quatre answered. "Now, on the right side of the plate is different for each setting. Informal and formal both have the place knife set to the right of the plate, but formal has a place spoon set just besides the knife. Now informal skips to the last utensil on the right side, which is the tea spoon."

"Alwight," Copied Uno.

"Well, now you're somewhat finished. Remove the place spoon," Quatre lifted up the spoon, "and it's informal. But place it back down and it's not. Formal setting also has utensils at the top of the plate. Directly at the top and aimed to the right, is a dessert fork. Just on top of that and aimed to the left is the dessert spoon."

"How do I know the diffewence?"

"At times you wouldn't, but some silverware has a different spoon for each. Okay, now on the top of those dessert utensils and just to the left a little is another plate—smaller—and placed _sitting_ on top—not on the table before or after it—is the butter knife. Now remember the butter knife isn't placed in the center of the plate, but rather more towards the top."

"There's a lot to know just to set a table." Duo yawned.

"Duo…don't do that. That's lousy table manners." Quatre warned.

Duo froze and blinked, "Um…sorry."

"Hm…" Quatre looked back at Uno. "You think you understand so far?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then let's continue. I'm now going to explain to you in better terms that you may want to learn over the easy way; this will also explain anything you have question over…" Quatre faced Duo who was slumped on his arm. "When setting a table, designate each plate using either the dinner plate, the place plate, or a napkin. The plate determines the position of the silverware that will be used for the main course."

"Okay." Uno nodded.

"If a place plate is used, it serves as the perfect place for the napkin. Now remember, these rules I am teaching you are to be used only at dinners of the most formal occasions ever. For example, eating dinner with the Vice Foreign Minister, _then_ you act like a princess. However, I'm sure she may teach you the proper ideals for that." Quatre smirked and looked at Duo; Duo blinked not knowing what Quatre was talking about with Relena teaching Uno anything.

"Alright, so…where were we? Place the bread plate, or roll plate, with the butter knife—the knife-edge will be to the outside—on top of it, to the left of the place plate. The different pieces of silverware are arranged from the inside out. The dinner knife is on the right side with the edge to the inside, the fork is on the left. Again, place the silverware in relation to either to the place plate or to the dinner plate. Now, if soup is served, place the soupspoon to the outside of the dinner knife, on the right. Then, place the silverware for dessert above the plate. The fork handle should point to the left while the spoon handle points to the right. You with me so far?" Quatre looked over and found Uno copying what he was doing.

"I think so," Uno looked at him.

"Alright, but these two knives are mixed up." Quatre fixed her placement of knives. "There, remember the butter knife has a more flattened edge to it than the dinner knife."

"Okay."

"Now assuming you're old enough to even drink whine—which you're no where near, but at balls and parties of formal occasions they will have it--place the glass for the wine that accompanies the main course directly above the tip of the dinner knife, on the right."

"Hey…would it be wrong to let her taste some? Just a thought," Duo asked.

"Duo…it's illegal. Though it is good to have at least a little whine each day to cleanse the body, it is very bad for a five-year-old to even taste a sip of it."

Duo sweat-dropped, "You're taking this to the extreme." Duo looked away and mumbled. Quatre eyed him and returned to Uno.

"So, this setting has been made for the following menu: a cold fish hors d'oeuvre, soup, a main course with meat, and cheese for dessert. The silverware for the cheese is above the plate; the knife handle points to the right; the cheese forks handle points to the left. The glass for the white wine—for the fish course—is to the right and below the glass for the red wine—for the main course. This was also the first setting I learned so that's why I feel more comfortable when you learn it sooner." Quatre sat leaned back in his chair and faced her again. "Okay, and to recap some things, position the stemware according to the sequence in which the different wines are to be served. The stemware is positioned after everything else, including the napkins, is in place. Position the glass for the wine served with the main course directly above the tip of the knife. This glass is sometimes called the "guide" glass. If a drink is served prior to the meal, that glass will be positioned in front of the "guide" glass. The after dinner drink will stand behind the "guide" glass. Position the glasses so that the guest will be able to reach each without having to maneuver around any of the other glasses at his place. Put no more than four glasses next to each setting. You may need some additional glasses. If two different white wine selections are offered, two different glasses are required. The guest should be able to enjoy each wine separately."

Uno blinked.

"Make sense at all?" Quatre shrugged.

Uno shook her head and Duo just stared blankly at him. Quatre giggled.

"Well…I guess we can continue on to manners."

Both Duo and Uno nodded with eyes wide open and mouths ajar.

Heero stepped into the library and flexed his muscles against the cool air that attacked his skin. He looked over to see Trowa reading again, but this time sitting on the window seat. He sat down in a new Victorian armchair Quatre just purchased.

"Quatre teaching them?" Asked Trowa.

"Yeah. He's forcing Duo to learn with him," Heero smirked.

"Heh." Trowa smirked as well. "I think Uno's come a long way in these three months. So suddenly she learned how to read and she is just beginning to learn how to write. I believe she will be ready to attend school."

"I feel that as well; the only problem is, she will be in kindergarten unless she can pass the entry and skip level exam." Heero stated, loading his library laptop; he just happened to have one for each room it seemed.

"What's on it?" Trowa asked, looking over to rest his eyes from reading.

"Math that she hasn't yet learned." Heero typed in a few keys and turned to Trowa's direction.

"Hm…well, she may surprise us again. You never know." Trowa returned to his book.

"Is Duo planning on having the girls teach Uno?"

"I don't think so, but I know he should. I feel Hildie will at least, but I'm not so sure about Relena, Dorothy, Catherine, and anybody else."

"I thought he said he was going to look into it once we're finished teaching her," Heero thought for a moment. "And once Wufei does as well."

Both Trowa and Heero smirked.

"Alright Uno," Quatre began again, "table manners, 101."

Uno blinked and shrugged.

"Hm…I'll just list what you need to know; I'd say it's for children but Duo doesn't follow them as well."

"…" Duo glared Quatre and sat back in his chair, sluggishly.

"Duo…sit straight; posture is one manner," Quatre warned.

"Hn," Mocked Duo.

"Or no supper," Quatre smirked. Duo sat up and Uno looked at him; she then returned to Quatre. "Rule number one: wash your hands before eating any meal at the dinner table…better yet, before eating anything at all; you don't want to have dirty hands feeding you food."

Uno blinked, "But I grew up like that."

"Heh…can't fight that, Quatre. We both grew up like that…'cept me more." Duo grinned, rubbing Uno's back.

"…Like I was saying," Glared Quatre; this caused Duo to freeze. "Step two: leave toys, books, and pets behind. Mostly animals; it's not right to have an animal around food because you will have animal fur flying around as you eat. Step three: when you sit down, place the napkin down on your lap. Now we may not do that, but it is the right thing to do."

"Do I still have to do that?"

"No," Answered Duo; He received another glare from Quatre. "Because this weekend I'm putting you in a public school and acting like a proper rich snob will only get you beat up."

"Duo!" Uno giggled as Quatre stood and shouted.

"Look! It's true, alright?! And Uno's going to a public school because all the richy ones are stuck up and snobby!!! Just look at Relena if you don't believe me! Ask Heero, he would know—he went to school with her a few times!!!" Quatre sat down at Duo's sudden outburst of explanations and looked up at Heero who was _slowly_—due to Duo's remarks—walking by the room.

"Heero—"

"Duo's right, Quatre. Uno going to a posh school is all right but she won't get the friends she needs for her age. And being from Duo, she needs to have a childhood and not be forced to sit properly and talk correctly," Heero exited the room.

Duo smirked and Quatre frowned; he knew Heero was right. Uno just sat there, blinking away, being very confused.

"…I'm lost." Uno spoke. Duo chuckled and hugged her some; Uno still blinked in question as she was hugged.

"Well…it's the right thing to do anyways. But let's continue…um…where was I? Nevermind, let's just continue. Um…the next thing you need to remember is…sitting up straight and _not to slouch_!!!" Quatre raised his voice and sparked fright in Duo's eyes.

"Sorry!!!" Duo sweat-dropped.

"Good," Quatre smiled; he was about to murder the poor baka. "Now, you ask politely for dishes to be served and _never_ reach over the table, especially over somebody else who's eating; that's just rude. Before you do anything, you wait until everybody is seated and served before eating because eating before they have the right is rude as well. Now some families say grace before they eat and while doing so, you wait until the prayer is over to eat and you don't giggle or laugh or do anything else during it. Grace is a prayer to God—doesn't matter which—that thanks him—or her—for giving you the food you will be soon after eating."

"Okay." Uno nodded.

"You keep your elbows off the table," Quatre shoved Duo's arms off the table. "You never chew with your mouth open and you never talk with your mouth full of food; it's completely rude. And just because you see Duo doing it at times defiantly means not to do it."

Quatre giggled as Duo inner breathed, acting hurt and placing his hand over his chest.

"Don't bang your silverware and when you're not using them, place them nicely on the side of your plate. If using butter, slice butter with the butter knife and put it on your butter plate or another plate; never remove the butter knife from the butter plate and remain holding it, okay? Don't wave your utensils around…it's wrong. And even though Heero may put his knife in his mouth when he eats something, don't do that."

Quatre looked up as Heero stepped up to the table with an apple and took out his combat knife. He then cut a small portion of the apple with his knife and stuck it inside his mouth, knife as well. Heero then removed the knife from his mouth and ate the apple.

"Don't do that Uno…Heero's got a suicidal tendency…you don't want to die as much as he does." Duo spoke, smirking.

"…Good apple." Heero swallowed and looked at the apple. He then faced back to Uno and the others and licked the knife as he was returning to the hallway he emerged from long ago.

Uno giggled.

"Uno…don't do that…not unless you're a trained specialists like him." Duo rolled his eyes, yet a part of him was surprised Heero acted human just then.

Quatre giggled as well.

"Well…where were we?" Quatre cleared his throat and continued. "Never play with your food—I think I covered that already. Um, never grab food from people's plates. Now with you and Duo, it may be an exception, but not all the time and only you and him."

Duo and Uno nodded and grinned at each other as Quatre rolled his eyes and continued again. "If…and knowing you're being raised by Duo, you want seconds…or even thirds—"

"Or fourths!!!" Grinned Duo.

"…Or fourths," Smirked Quatre, "ask. Ask to be excused from the table before leaving and don't just get up and walk away. Even if you're going to return, you do that. And lastly, what you _and_ Duo should both learn is clear your plate from the table and bring it to the kitchen. Usually it's best to clean it and put it away, but soaking it in the sink is good enough for even me."

"Oh my goodness!" Duo gasped, joking. "Hahaha…sorry Quatre!"

Quatre rolled his eyes. "Uh huh…if there's bones on the plate, leave the plate on the side of the sink to later be taken care of and cleaned. Got it?"

Uno and Duo nodded.

"Good…because we're still not through yet.

Heero returned to the library eating the apple with his knife. He sat down and smirked. Trowa questioned him.

"Heero?"

"I stepped by when Quatre was explaining not to eat with knives."

"Did you learn from it?" Trowa smirked.

"Hell no." Heero tossed the core of the finished apple into the garbage besides the table. Trowa shook his head chuckling slightly and returned to his book.

"I don't think Quatre's going to use the entire week to teach Uno." Trowa began.

"Why?"

"Well…most of what he's planned is by topics and is all marked down on certain days. He has the last two days empty I believe."

"Gives more time for Duo to be stupid then." Heero rebooted his computer. "Shit."

"Uno," Quatre began. "There are more table manners than that. _Always_ eat with a fork unless your food if meant to be picked up by hand. Never stuff your mouth with food, it's gross and you could possible choke easier. Don't make rude comments about the food being served and if you must, say is to a whisper that nobody else can hear and only to another person you know has nothing to do with the host. Always be kind and say thank you when receiving your food. If the meal is not a buffet, then you must wait until everybody is served to begin eating. Eat slowly and even though Duo said that to you already—I presume—and even though in a war," Quatre faced Duo, "you don't have all the time you wish to eat, don't eat fast. You not only can make yourself choke, but you also make yourself full quicker and you get hungry sooner than normal."

"Wight." Uno nodded; Duo watched her.

"Now…if eating a roll, break off a piece to nibble off of or eat completely; if you eat it when it's whole, it looks tacky. Something for Duo, never pick food out of your teeth at the table. If you must, excuse yourself to the restroom and use a toothpick to remove the excess food. When the napkin is placed on your lap and you need to use it, do so but only to dap your mouth; if you want to wipe your face or blow your nose, excuse yourself to the restroom and do it there. If eating at somebody else's home, always thank them by saying how delicious the food was—even if it sucked; show appreciation."

"Haha! What if it was so bad it made you puke?!" Duo asked; Uno giggled.

"Then you use the excuse you have a cold." Quatre giggled. "Now being kind like that will go a long ways because if this is a friend's parents, you want to make excellent impressions towards them. Now…finally for the day I'll explain to you table manners for usual dinner meals. And to start, once you get to the table, you never sit until the host says you may or when he sits. These are just a few more for formal parties."

Uno and Duo nodded.

"Um…I may end up repeating myself, but it's good to be reminded." Quatre sweat-dropped. "Alright, Never begin eating until the rest of the people have their food or after you say grace _with_ everybody; some families don't say grace so you may skip to begin eating."

"Sounds like me," Duo smirked.

"Usually, the food is passed to the right when handed at the beginning and you never keep the plate of food until the far right end and up to you have their food; then you may hold on to the plate. Here's something for Duo, never take a lot of food because you may not like it; always take little portions and return afterwards for more."

Duo grinned, "So now I can't pig out?"

"No."

"Damn," Duo dropped his head.

"Watch your mouth, Duo," Quatre warned; Duo sweat-dropped. "If you don't want a particular food item they have out, just pass it on without saying anything; you don't want to bring it up. If they ask you about it, just simply—and kindly—say that 'the food looks good but you don't think you'll have any" then finished by saying, "thank you anyways."

"Wow…pure kindness," Duo smirked. "Something Relena needs to be taught."

"Keep the table and table cloth as clean as possible by not placing bones or excess food on it; you place those on your plate. Never spit anything out that is in your mouth; if you dislike what you have tried, quietly use your napkin and hide it inside there. Never burp; it is a _very_ rude thing."

"It is?" Duo blinked.

"Quite. Though in Japan, you burp after meals to express how decent the food was, but you _never_ burp anyways else. I doubt even Heero does that, but go to Heero for Japanese table manners; not me."

Uno watched the conversation carry on between Duo and Quatre and slumped back in the chair.

"Uno," Uno bolted up and looked at Quatre; Quatre smirked. "Once you received your food, say your thanks. If you would like something that you cannot reach, you ask kindly for another to assist you; say if I wanted a bowl of peas but it was too far away from me, I would say "would you please pass the peas?"

"Okay," Remarked Uno.

"Hey Quatre…how you gonna' test her?"

"I'll test you both by eventually seeing if you improve over time…_and _if I ever have to attend another feast; I will then invite you—probably Uno."

Uno smirked and spat her tongue out at Duo. "Put that back inside before I yank it out," Duo glared. Uno giggled.

"Keeping up to pace with how others eat is a good thing to do. You don't want to eat too fast and you don't want to eat too slowly. Pay attention to how they eat; of course, if they didn't take as much as you, they may be finished sooner so don't rush to catch up with them. Never touch your nose, hair, teeth, or anything else that should be done in the restroom; like I said before, if you need to do one of these things, excuse yourself kindly and part your way to the bathroom." Quatre cleared his throat. "Well, you think you got it all down?"

"Yes!" Uno smiled.

"I think so," Duo shrugged. "Just the same shit Professor G tried to have me learn when I was younger."

"I take it you failed that?" Quatre asked, cleaning up the table.

"I don't know, really; all he did was roll his eyes and walk away from me," Duo thought for a moment.

Heero looked asleep in the library when Duo entered. His head was in his arms and resting on the table besides his laptop. Duo snickered and tiptoed over to the sleep boy. Just as he was about to poke Heero in the ear, something lashed out.

"Don't you dare touch me, Duo," Heero warned.

Duo backed away, slowly. "How'd you know?"

"I could see your feet entering through the doors." Heero stated and Duo noticed him pointing at the door from under his arm. Heero raised his head and saw Uno behind Duo. The braids were terrifyingly the same.

"I think she passed for the day," Duo smiled.

"Let me guess…you failed." Heero smirked when Duo frowned and looked over to see Uno sitting up on a chair besides him.

Duo spun around and exited the room. Uno looked at what Heero rested his head on when he sat up. She picked up a few of the papers and looked at all the writing—not having a clue as to what it even said.

"Don't understand?" Asked Heero; Uno shook her head.

She placed the papers back down on the table and winced when apiece sliced her palm. Heero blinked and watched as she looked at the small dosages of blood trickle down. He smirked.

"Hn." He took her other hand and pressed her fingers against the wound. "Apply pressure to the cut and it'll stop the bleeding sooner."

"Okay." Uno pressed against her palm.

"So Duo's enrolling you in school this weekend. Are you ready?" Uno shrugged. "Alright."

Uno released her grasp and looked at the dry blood on her fingers. She rubbed it on her jeans and looked up at Heero as he handed her a pencil and paper. She looked at the paper and saw a bunch of numbers.

"It's called math. Do you know how to add?" Uno shook her head. "Subtract?" She shook her head again. Heero sighed and began.

That night, Duo looked around for Uno and gave up when he reached the living room again. Quatre faced him confused and lowered the volume of his television show. "Duo?" Quatre began.

"I—"

"Let me guess, you can't find your daughter." Wufei answered for him. Duo blinked and felt funny when Wufei called Uno his daughter.

"I…uh—"

"She act's just like you, I wouldn't be surprised if you really did do something wild during the battles and wound up having Uno as a child when you didn't know it." Wufei saw down in his corner and began lighting his candels.

"Um…shit…now that you mention it…" Duo began.

"Stop. Don't go on. She's in the library." Wufei stared at him, glaring and making sure Duo wouldn't think out loud. Duo left the room and headed towards the library.

"Wufei? It does make sense considering how she acts like him almost exactly and Duo is crazy to believe he may die the next day to have sex with some girl before it happens." Quatre pondered.

"Almost? She's identical to him precisely!" Wufei snapped.

Duo entered the library and froze in the doorway when he saw Uno working on a bunch of math problems Heero gave her. He calmly stepped up to her and looked over her shoulder.

"I taught her how to add and subtract simple numbers." Heero explained.

"Cool." Duo sat down besides them and watched.

When Tuesday arrived, Quatre was surprised to see Uno up already and watching television. He stepped up behind the couch and smiled at the cartoons she watched.

"Duo left?" Quatre asked.

"He said he'll be back latew." Uno replied.

"Well, let's begin then, Uno." Uno nodded and shut off the television set. She then stood and followed Quatre down the hallway.

"Whewe we going?" She asked.

Quatre entered his office and shut the door behind her, "Just my office. I'm going to explain to you what qualities you need to have to become a leader; leadership qualities for better defining."

Uno sat down in a chair and watched Quatre repeat the same.

"There are six basic steps to becoming a leader on your own; you need to listen very closely because these six will not only make you more mature as you grow up, but they will also allow others to look up to you, follow in your footsteps for anything needed."

"Alwight."

"Alright, I'm not going to explain all the way what the six steps are because you will later find out; you're a bit too young to know what they all mean already. But, commitment is one; it is the serious promise to press on, to get up no matter how many times you are knocked down. Now in a fight, it's called bravery, but they are all practically the same; you never back down from something you have your eye on. Communication is the next one; the goal of effective communication is action, not just what you saw and write, but also how well it is done and how well you are understood. Also focus mostly on the ability to listen and hear; in other words, speak bluntly."

Uno nodded.

"You get me so far? These are _very_ important," Quatre asked.

"I think so."

"Good. Now following one is competence; it's a leader's ability to think it, plan it, and do it. Courage, which sounds nifty, is the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory. Also like bravery, but this is the guts for something like that. The next one you may not understand right away, being how young you are, but it is servant leadership. Put others before you, _especially_ your friends, family, and teammates; it's putting others ahead of your own agenda and personal desires."

"I understand," Uno stated, seriously.

Quatre blinked. "You do?"

"Mmhm." Uno smiled some.

"Well…I guess living on the streets in a war helped." Quatre shrugged. "Okay, the final step is something you need to know so you don't turn out the way Duo dislikes you to—knowing everything. It's called life-long learning and it is a commitment to listening, reading, and maintaining a teachable attitude and the willingness to admit you don't know everything."

"Snob," Uno corrected.

Quatre smirked, "Yes…to be snobby is bad. Now there are dimensions of sustaining leadership and over time, some of these traits may dissolve."

"Dimensions?"

"You'll learn that eventually, but I mean levels or…erm…uh—_things_! I'm not going to talk about them much because you should know what they mean already, but they are having partnership—which you will want so you won't…be _snobby_ and decide to go on your own; it also helps you put others before you—and voice. I'm not sure how to explain voice, but speaking up against things for what you believe in should do. Now vision and values are the next; vision—to allow you to view your future and see if you are worthy enough to live on like a legend or a rat—and value, which is if you believe you are worth dying for something so important or if you are worth something greater than…what the given option may be."

"Okay."

"Good, knowledge and daring; are you smart and brave enough to accomplish something outrageous? Now remember, just because you're brave doesn't mean you're smart; the same thing for being smart and not meaning you can be brave. Savvy and persistence, um…savvy means you understand and persistence is…kind of like forcing something to be done right then only because you need it soon or you feel it won't get done at all. It's like telling somebody over and over again to clean their car; you're being persistent in wanting their car cleaned."

"Okay."

"Okay, now personal qualities is the final one and doesn't mean funny or smart. Personal qualities; do they have passion, humor, wisdom? Are they patient, reliable, sensitive? Do they have empathy strength of character? Are they matured—generally through age that is—and do they have common sense. Can you trust them well enough; are they creative? Things like this are personal qualities that make up a leader. Now, if they have all the good sides to the list I just stated, then they more likely are leadership material; but if they don't, leave them alone."

Uno giggled. "Heero?"

"No…apparently he isn't really leadership quality. He may be now, since I've seen some more humane sides to him than I have during the war, but it takes time to develop these things." Quatre explained. "Hm…I believe you're finished already."

"For the day?" Uno blinked.

"Um…heh…kind of for the rest of the week. I don't really have anything else to teach to you. I explained to you anything and everything regarding manners and table settings, and just completed leadership references. What else can I do?" Quatre sweat-dropped. "Let's work on some math."

Duo returned home that night and slammed the door shut. He hadn't planned on staying at the junkyard all day, but he wound up doing just that when Hildie asked him to run a few errans; who knew she had a list of organizing to be completed. He walked into the living room and found Trowa watching the news.

"Tough day?" Trowa asked.

Duo replied with a sigh, "Where's Uno?"

"Working on more math with Quatre in the office. He said he finished for the week and has nothing else to explain." Duo blinked.

"Nani? I thought he was packed of ideas for her!" Duo shouted, dumbfounded.

"Same here, but he said Uno pretty much knows what to do on just about anything." Trowa rested his body and shut his eyes. "The public school began two weeks ago. You should enroll Uno soon."

"She's still learning." Duo sat down besides Trowa on the couch.

"She's five-years-old, Duo. What all can a child learn when her grade is in Kindergarten?"

Duo pondered, "Hey, you're right! Uno's smarter than the average five-year-old! I bet she'll ace the test and score enough to skip to grades!"

Duo ran out of the room to tell the news to Uno. Trowa opened his eyes and blinked.

"No…she's not smart enough to memorize basic math numbers and major words," Trowa thought a moment again. "Then again, I wasn't explained those until my later years and she's already past first grade reading levels within two months. She might have what it takes to skip two grades."


	7. Knowledge Mixed With History

Duo's Child

Chapter 7

By the end of the week, Uno has been learning so much that she was literally rebelling against it. Heero already forced her in a chair and aimed his gun at her face; she glared at him with his own glare and walked away. Duo tried tying her to a chair; she got out of the rope somehow. Quatre lectured her constantly on learning so much to get ahead; Uno listened to him but replied with statements that shut him up speechless because he had nothing to reply to. Trowa told her she wouldn't be able to go back into the gym until she did what she was told; Uno just stared at him for long amounts of time until he actually _felt_ nervous staying around her.

Uno smirked and cuddled up in the corner of a couch the following Sunday and closed the end of the book Trowa had her read for his training. She just finished the book and was proud on being able to read it. She smiled until she saw Duo standing in the doorway of the playroom; Quatre created a game room/playroom for Duo and Uno.

"Hi." Uno smiled.

"Hi." Duo grinned. Uno pressed her against the couch and felt in trouble.

"Duo?" She asked, innocently.

"You're going to school tomorrow. But right now, I need to enroll you and you need to take a test to see where you stand." Duo reached out for her head and took it.

"School?"

"Yes. No fighting, I'm forcing you to go," Duo pushed Uno into the hallway.

"You can't force me!" Uno snapped.

"Wanna's bet?!" Duo growled and by the time they reached the living room, the other four turned around to see them.

"Yeah!" And before Duo could note on what Uno was capable of, she struck her foot down onto the ground so forcefully; Duo nearly fell over her small figure. Uno dropped down onto her knee and spun around, tripping Duo and sweeping his legs out from under him. He fell and squinted his eyes.

"…Ouch." Duo lay there.

Uno giggled, "Told you!"

"Duo…hehe. You don't force Uno to do anything after she's been trained by us." Quatre smirked.

"I know…I forgot how tough she got just after Heero," Duo rubbed the back of his head. Wufei watched the entire thing and grinned.

Duo sat up. "Uno..okay..look—"

"I'm weady." Uno smiled nicely at him.

"…Good." Duo got up and took her hand in his; they began walking to the door. "We'll be back later, don't worry."

"We won't." Wufei answered and heard as they shut the door. "She'll fail if she's anything like that baka."

By the time Duo pulled up to the visitors' parking lot of the school, Uno was already looking at how big it was. Duo blinked when he read the names, displayed on each of the three parts of the school.

"Winner Elementary, Winner Middle School, Winner High School? All three built into one big campus?!" Duo shouted. He stepped out of the car as Uno did as well. Duo looked around him and found some high school students looking at him; several girls were checking him out and winking at him, some others were staring at his vet. Duo felt good again like he used to when he was younger. When Uno grasped his hand, some of the girls blinked and gawked that he had a kid and looked too young. Duo grinned and began the way inside the school.

When they both entered, Duo looked around at how big the school was. They entered in the center of the school, which branched off into three parts, elementary, middle, and high school. It looked like a spider web.

Duo stepped up to the front desk, "Hi, I'm here to enroll someone."

"Name." The lady at the counter asked.

"Uno Maxwell." Uno lifted her body up on her toes to rest her chin on the countertop.

The lady looked at her and smiled some, "Elementary."

"Yeah, does she have to take a test? She may be too smart for Kindergarten." Duo began filling out a file record on Uno.

"Yes, if you would like, she could take one now." The lady typed stuff in a computer.

Uno handed back the sheet he filled out, "Please."

"Alright, take a seat." The lady reviewed the paper as Duo sat down. Uno looked around at the place.

"Uno," Duo began; Uno faced him. "Do your best so you don't have to go be with all the stupid kids."

"Hehehe." Uno giggled.

"Mr. Maxwell, we're ready for her to take the test." Duo stood and pulled Uno along.

"Alright." As the lady shown Uno into a small room, Duo had the option to walk around. The test was one hundred questions and he felt bored. He decided to walk.

Duo turned down the hallway to bring the campus towards high school and looked around. Girls in knee high boots and very short skirts stood about at the lockers talking, some in the corners making out with their boyfriends, some chattering while walking in the halls. Duo continued to walk and found the main hallway ended in the cafeteria.

"So each side has its own café? Damn…Mr. Winner sure had money." Duo blinked and looked at a large pack of girls walk by him. Suddenly, his butt got pinched and Duo blinked at them; one girl blew him a kiss before stepping into class.

Someone else tapped Duo on the shoulder and he faced them; it was a bleach-blonde haired, green eyed, Asian girl. "Yes?"

"You got a girlfriend?" She purred and winked.

"Um…I have a kid," Duo spat out. _Perfect, Duo._ He thought.

"So…I'm good in bed. I have excellent usage of tongue." Duo sweat and gulped back his load.

"Is that so?" He stuttered.

"Yes. You want to skip school and go to my house? I live alone and I am _very _good." She stepped closer to him as he stepped back some. He felt the lockers behind him.

"…Guess what." Duo smirked.

"Hm?"

"I fought in the wars; I killed people; I skinned them alive; I slowly crushed them to death with my Gundam," Duo explained. Of course, he had to lie about a few, but he felt relieved when she began backing away from him.

"I still do that even now. The last person I had sex with, I skinned alive and sold the skin as dog food and mixed the meat in with the school meat. I'm only hear to make sure people are actually eating it," Duo grinned his Shinigami grin and stepped closer to the Asian.

"You're sick! Stay away from me!" She ran off. Duo walked away, chuckling.

"Man…am I _good_!" He grinned as he continued walking down a hallway of classrooms.

Duo looked around the halls at the rooms; he found most of them were science labs. "Hm…must be the science hall."

Duo followed the staircase at the end of the hall and froze when he heard noises come from behind the door. His eyes enlarged; he backed away and quickly turned around. Duo ran to the end of the hall to pretend he never heard what was behind the door and started his way back to the front of the school. He sat down and shut his eyes.

Half an hour later, something kicked at his shin and his eyes opened to see Uno smiling at him. "Hey Uno."

Duo stood and stepped up to the counter with the lady.

"We're scoring her right now. She already passed about fifty percent of the test and we're finding out whether or not she is able to skip grade one," Duo blinked largely at the lady.

"S-skip grade one!" Duo shouted and she nodded. He faced Uno who was looking at some past school class images.

"Hold on." She stated as the left from the counter. She later returned with a sheet of paper and marked something down on it.

"Duo," Uno tugged on his pant leg. "I'm hungry."

"We'll go back to the mansion in a moment, Uno." Duo faced her.

"You live in the Woodleys?" The lady asked, straight faced.

"Hm?" Duo blinked.

"The Woodleys are the richest suburban area around here. All the children come to this school."

"Um…no, I did not know that." Duo looked down thinking. _Shit…she'll be labeled a rich snob if I don't do anything about it, _he thought.

"No. We live with Quatre Winner." Duo corrected; the lady froze and stared up at Duo.

"Mr. Winner?" She stuttered.

"His son, Quatre Raberba Winner. Mr. Winner was killed in battle I heard. His son, Quatre, has taken over the business. He's doing great," Duo smiled. _Great! This is so great!!!_

"Oh! Well, um. Why don't you tell Mr. Winner to give us a call so we could discuss a few things his father objected to?" She asked, flirtively.

"Like what?"

"Well…parent's have been arguing that the children need school uniforms," She smiled.

"No. I refuse to allow Uno to go to a snobby school where they all look and act the same," Duo growled.

"Oh, well I—"

"Good day, ma'am." Duo snapped back and started towards the door. Uno followed behind him.

"Oh, well…we'll mail you her test scores!" The lady shouted out to him just as the door slammed shut.

Wufei was actually sitting on the couch when Duo slammed the door shut and stopped from his paperwork on the coffee table. Uno walked on and trailed past the living room to the gym; she was bored and wanted to play. Duo on the other hand, stormed into the living room and threw himself down on the couch. Wufei blinked astonished and scooted away a little.

"Bad day, Duo?" He asked nicely to ease his friend's stress.

"Yeah, the bitch at the office wants Quatre to force school uniforms and make everybody look and act the same. The schools got rich snobs already!" Duo shouted and threw his arms about.

"Calm your temper, Maxwell." Wufei smirked. "What's so wrong about uniforms? I went to school where you had to wear them."

"I don't want Uno going around with snobs; I'd disown her for that." Duo growled.

Wufei sat back, "You spend all that money—Hildie's I might add—and throw it away just like that, because Uno's going to be around posh kids?"

Duo sighed, "No. But I don't want her growing up like Relena!"

"I agree." Wufei smirked. "Just don't tell Quatre about it then."

Duo blinked, "Eh?"

"Did they tell you to get him to call the school?" Duo nodded. "Then don't tell him."

"That's not like you, Wufei. Did you hit your head roughly?" Duo scratched his head in wonder.

Wufei smirked, "No. I'm just calming you down."

"Oh…well then you wouldn't teaching Uno?" Duo tried to smuggle him.

"Yes, I would mind. I don't have time in my life to take out an extra week to teach her; besides, she's starting school soon."

"But Quatre-"

"Had wound up _canceling_ half the week since his job was getting tougher. It wasn't just that he had little to teach; he had no time left. He leaves in a few days for a very important meeting in France and another again in Spain a few months from now." Wufei continued his work.

"…That's around Halloween." Duo thought out.

"So? Quatre disbelieves in Halloween, but he only hands out candy because he likes the children." Wufei scanned through a few pages of a book.

"But Uno's birthday is Halloween." Duo felt hurt.

"How do you know? And besides, you'll be with her."

"I know that, but I just figured Quatre would want to be with her too." Duo shrugged. "Okay then. Anyways, Uno said that when she once had cake—which had her name written on it—there were lots of scarey people coming to her house asking for candy."

Wufei smirked. "How old was she?"

Duo shrugged. "Take it that she saw her name on the cake meant her birthday and scarey people wanting candy said Halloween."

"What if it wasn't Halloween, but celebrated then? She could have had it during the week or some other time." Wufei scribbled down Chinese symbols as scratch work.

"Oh well; it's Halloween now."

The following day, Quatre received a phone call stating he had to cancel his France appointment. He felt relieved at first, and then weakened the next; he stressed himself over the meeting for nothing in the end. Quatre smirked and shook his head, taking out the thoughts that have stuck in his mind since breakfast. He shut down his computer and prepared to go eat lunch when the telephone rang again. Quatre picked it up.

"Winner Mansion, Quatre speaking."

"This is Sheryl Simpson from the front office of Winner Schooling district, I'm looking for a Mr. Maxwell; is he around at the moment?" The phone replied.

"Oh, is this about Uno's test scores?" Quatre smiled some.

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll go get him; hang on." Quatre put the lady on hold button one and stepped out of his office to find Duo.

Quatre stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked out the glass walls to see Duo and Uno playing in the backyard. He smiled and opened the French doors.

"Duo, telephone. It's the school about Uno's scores."

"I'm coming." Stated Duo, lugging a clone on his back.

Quatre giggled at the scene of Uno on Duo's back. "You can take it in my office; she's on line one."

"Gotcha'."

Duo entered the office and put Uno down. He went over to the desk and sat in the chair, then reached for the phone. He lifted the receiver and pressed one.

"Duo here."

"Mr. Maxwell?" The phone asked.

"Yes?"

"Hi, I'm Sheryl Simpson from the front office of Winner Schooling district; I'm calling about Uno's test scores."

"Okay." Duo leaned back and watched Uno look through one of Quatre's many bookcases.

"Uno received a very unusual test score and we're having trouble selecting a place to put her."

"What do you mean? Shouldn't she go in kindergarten?" Duo asked; Uno stood on her knees on a chair and read some book titles.

"Well you see, she scored higher than any kindergarten student could. She aced the first grade questions and varied around the second grade ones. If we put her in first grade, she would accomplish things at a much greater percentage than the other first graders would. But if we put her in second grade, she may struggle to keep up. It all depends on which you would like her to go in." Silence held a long moment after the speaker paused.

Duo blinked, "She's that _good_?"

"Yes Sir."

"First grade then. We could help her, but I want her to travel on as a acer and not a struggler in school."

"First grade, Sir?" Sheryl asked.

"Yes."

"Alright. It's best to get her ready for school on Monday. She'll need just the usual items, I'm sure you know them." Her attitude changed some; Duo blinked and found it sound snobby.

"Well I-"

"Can't wait to see Uno Monday morning. Bye bye, Mr. Maxwell." The phone clicked and Duo looked at the receiver.

"I don't know what usual items school kids have."

Duo was washing Uno's hair that night when a thought occurred to him. He spun Uno around and looked at her face. Uno blinked and he found her eyes were the same color as his.

"What?" Uno pondered.

"…Do you remember what your parents looked like?" Duo paused from washing her hair and rested his elbows on the side of the tub.

Uno shook her head.

Duo sighed, "Alright."

He continued washing her hair, knowing she looked so much like him. _Impossible, Duo!!! You found her on the streets just like you grew up! But she did know how to survive at such a small age and on._

Duo shook his head and cleared those thoughts. _There ain't no fucking way Uno can _really_ be my kid!_

Heero was watching an old movie when his arm was slapped with what felt like wet hair. He blinked and turned to see violet-blue eyes staring right at him with a wet-mop braid. He blinked and reached out for the tiny Maxwell to get on the couch besides him. Uno sat and leant back; Heero moved her hair out from behind her body so she wouldn't drench Quatre's couch.

Duo stepped into the room soon after and sat on the other side of Uno.

"What ya' watchin'?" Duo asked, settling back.

"Some old war movie from the nineteen-hundreds," Heero replied.

"That old?!" Duo's eyes enlarged; Uno pondered up at him.

"Pearl Habor is what it's called. I hate it because they tore up the ending." Heero replied.

"Tore it up?" Duo blinked; Uno pictured some film editors standing around and literally tearing up the film.

"The entire ending is wrong. They had to remake the movie to suit everyone's including the Japanese. Therefore, they turned it into a stupid love story. Just like The Titanic."

"Ooohhhh." Duo mouthed with a quiet aw.

"I just finished watching Brave Heart." Heero cleared his throat.

"I love that movie!" Duo shouted.

"I hate it, they screwed the entire story up; none of it ever happened in reality." Heero corrected.

"How would you know?! You weren't around at the time it takes place!" Defended Duo.

"Because he doesn't live on to do all the shit he does. He actually died in battle and his team continued on without him." Replied Heero; Heero turned to face Duo and smirked. "I did my homework, Duo. Time for you to do yours."

"Forget it…I still like the thing though!" Duo joked.

"Hn."

Time went by that the movie was practically over with. Duo was getting restless and Heero wanted to change the channel. Quatre had joined in with Trowa—he had to get away from the books for a change—and Wufei had just then arrived home from work.

Finally, the movie ended and Heero changed the channel to the satellite guide. Duo blinked in having a sudden thought occur to him just then. He faced the television still, but spoke to Uno's direction.

"Uno," Duo began, "Do you remember what your mother's name was?" He looked down at her with a pondering expression.

Uno took some time to think and blinked a few times. Quatre and everyone else were watching except for Wufei; he had to meditate to cool off his stress from work. Finally, Uno replied.

"Sawah."

"I mean her last name. Do you remember what your last name was? Uno what?" Duo wiggled away a little and looked down at her closer.

"Um," Uno began to think. "Cleever?" She blinked up at Duo.

Duo froze, "Sarah Cleaver?"

Duo's eyes slowly made their way to her face. Uno nodded and Duo automatically felt chills down his spine. His body froze with tension.

"Holy shit." Duo spoke as long as possible.

"Duo!" Quatre shouted; he was getting fed up with Duo's constant outbursts of language.

"I gotta' go!" Without a second to spare, Duo leaped from his seat and over everybody's legs and feet. He raced down the hallway and once he reached the door, slammed it shut. Heero could hear closely as tires—preferably Duo's 2002 Corvette—pealed away from the cement driveway. Even Wufei had looked up from this.

"Is Duo hiding something from us?" Quatre asked around.


	8. The Truth Comes Out

Duo's Child

Chapter 8

Duo wasn't sure where he could go at one o'clock in the morning, but he had to try anyways. He had no place to go and hide, explain the truth, or any other possibility that may be allowed. Quatre was a thought because he knew Quatre wouldn't lecture and bitch at him, making him feel bad about what happened a long time ago; hey, they all could have lost so this was just part of the successful package. Relena was a thought but he couldn't stand her and even Dorothy seemed to boggle in his mind; Relena would be listening in though and blurt it out. Sally was a question and he quickly scanned around for more help as he sped his Vet down the Interstate. Hildie constantly showed up in his mind and blurred his vision that he almost missed the road turning; he could have jumped the wall and killed himself by a car crash rather than during the wars by a mobile suite dual—the better way to die.

Unsure of what to do, it felt as if his car were driving him to a chosen destination. The clock was ticking and Duo was becoming more and more scared of the consequences. Why? He wasn't sure; he just didn't want to end up bitched at by Hildie, lectured by Quatre, spoken rudely of by Wufei, and above all resign Uno's legal papers and correct the error of himself being the father other than the guardian; but how will he tell Uno this?

Duo's breath quickened as his car stopped at a red light off the exit ramp. His palms were sweaty and his eyes jumped around. His chest burned and his head ached; what would he do? What _should_ he do?! What would he do if he were still at war?

_I'd live on and expect to come home to a daughter and face the charges with the mother's boyfriend,_ Duo answered himself.

How would he react if he were still at war and gained this news?

_I'd be damn shocked at first that I got a kid from a one-night-stand and terrified of meeting her boyfriend to discuss matters._

What would he do if he were at war and the mother left her boyfriend for him?

_I'd ask what her problem was because that was only a one time deal._

What would he do if he was still at war and the mother and boyfriend ignored the kid and put them out into the streets?

_I'd kick their ass for producing another orphan such as myself; yet raise her as my own child._

Which brings him back to the present problem: What would he do if the mother and boyfriend were killed _from_ the war and the result was making an orphan out of that child?

_I'd adopt the kid and talk to my girlfriend about the case._

Before Duo could conjure up that his vehicle has stopped, he was parked on the driveway to Hildie's house. All that was left now was to explain to her and pray she understood; pray that she won't get mad at him for having sex with some chick and getting her pregnant. Hell, why should she? They weren't together until after the war ended.

Duo inhaled deeply and stepped outside of his car. The black vet stood out in the darkness like a shadow in the closet. The sound of the door shutting alerted strays of another human to beg and Duo began stepping lightly towards the front door. In his mind he pondered the many ways to begin explaining to her of his problem. In his mind he began thinking that the matter wouldn't be so bad if he were prepared for it, like when he fucked that girl.

_I knew it was a bad thing to do; I should have at least used protection! Damn her! She should have been on Birth Control!_

Duo frowned angrily and knocked on the hard wooden door. His knuckles reddened as he banged loud enough to wake the entire house, which he had hoped for. After about three knocks, each spaced apart enough to note her that someone was at the door, he pulled his hands back and clenched his fists.

"Hildie, I have something very important to tell you. Hildie, Uno really is my kid-no! That just sounds so wrong!" Duo shook his head, "I'm the real father of Uno."

Every thought he spoke sounded bad and he began wishing he hadn't have come here. All to fast it seemed, the knob to the door clattered and turned. A small crack formed and Hildie popped her head out as best as she could manage.

"Duo? It's two in the morning; what's wrong?" She asked tiredly. She stepped out of the way to allow Duo entrance.

"Hildie, I've got something important to tell you," Duo spoke as he stepped inside.

_Well, here it goes._

"Hildie, I am the true father of Uno." There, he had said it all.

"What?" Hildie asked as if she had misheard him.

"You heard me right, Hildie. Uno is my _real_ daughter." Duo gulped back what was stuck in his throat and hoped for the best of her reaction.

"I don't get it. How can that be if you just met her a few months ago?" Asked Hildie, pulling her blue-colored robe together tighter.

Duo sighed, "Alright, I'll explain but bare with me on it; I had no idea."

Hildie nodded; Duo took a deep breath. "Before I met you, I had to do an assignment back here on the Earth. I finished it early and didn't have to go back into space right away considering Professor G had no more missions. Therefore, I decided to walk the town and see what's out there; have some fun before I get shipped back out and continue with other tasks."

As Duo explained the night of fun that later became shocking, the memory seem to replay itself in his mind. "Well, I walked around and found this bar—no; I didn't meet her at the bar though. I was thirsty and we all know I drink some, just not entirely a lot. So I went inside and ordered a combination of Bloody Mary with Vodka on the rocks; it tasted pretty well for planet drinks and dowsed it all down with in that hour. It wasn't much so I know I wasn't drunk; and besides, how often to I get drunk from alcoholic drinks with or without combinations?

So any who, once I felt I was done with that place I left and continued checking out the city. It wasn't that big—not as it is now—and checked out an arcade. Sometime after when I was still walking about the streets I got hungry so I ordered a hotdog from one of those stands on the sides of buildings, you know where they're like, small restaurants yet nothing but just a shack? Anyways, I stood in line and was waiting to get my order and this red-haired girl was arguing with the clerk-and-cook-guy at the counter about something that wasn't put on her order. She was told to step aside and wait until the next person—me—was taken. I ordered my food and looked at her; she was ticked and I spoke to her. I asked what happened and she said that she 'couldn't eat whole white bread that she asked for wheat and blah blah blah.'

I made a comment that people should follow directions—considering I have to above all because of those missions—and she smirked; I smirked from that too. I noticed her eyes and made a comment about them because I haven't seen a redhead with green eyes before and she thanked me and we began walking some and talking. I learned she was seventeen—a year older than me—and liked music—like me. She learned that I liked sports and that I also liked music a lot—but I hid the facts about being a pilot. So as we talked and walked, we finished our hotdogs and trashed the rest, and I asked her if she had a boyfriend—why? I do not know.

Well, I wound up walking her home to her apartments and we stopped when we reached her door, which was right off of the main sidewalk for the streets of the small town. She asked if I wanted to come inside and I accepted; I don't know if it was the alcohol that put me in the state of temptation, but I wasn't just normal then. Her place was cleaned pretty well; a few loose things here and there that should be trashed or cleaned, but decent nonetheless. I looked at the pictures on one of her walls and asked if her boyfriend were in any of them, but he wasn't. I remember shrugging then and stepping back up to her, meaning to ask to use her phone and call the guys who were watching over my Gundam, but the words didn't form in my mouth. Instead, she and I just looked into each others eyes and before I knew it, my eyes had shut and I was kissing her entirely—mouth moving, jaw closing, tongue dancing kiss.

We stopped about five minutes after—or what felt like five minutes, could have been more…or even less—and I backed away from her. I let go of her shoulders as she let go of my waist and we still stared at each others eyes. She stepped closer again and kissed me—I had to kiss back. I replaced my hands on her shoulders and parted with her, clearly stating that we had to stop because I would have to leave very shortly and she had a boyfriend—but we could both tell that I didn't mean to say it though it _was_ true. Either way, we didn't stop kissing until another what-felt-like five minutes went by and she just gave me this look that pulled me into her further than I already was. She began walking away from me—towards her bedroom—and looked back at times with that same look that I couldn't ignore; so I followed her. When I got into her room—it was pitch black and not even a single light was lit—I felt her kiss me again and when she parted, there was a small fish lamp that lit up besides my right arm; she had put on a small light enough to see…which is just about what she believed was needed."

Duo lowered his head, shut his eyes, and just breathed. "Look, I don't know why I did what I had. I knew I didn't have protection and still I ended up having sex with her. I told her I didn't have anything and she acted as if she heard me yet didn't care—she continued to kiss me and whatnot. I thought she might have been on the pill, but I still didn't care about the consequences then and took her anyways."

Hildie tilted her head the opposite direction than how it sat and watched as Duo shook inside. She knew he was afraid of what to do and scared to admit the truth, but he had and that's what made him strong. She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, catching a glimpse of the Hildie he had fallen in love with.

"Duo, it's alright. I understand completely because this happened long before you and I have ever met. I'm a little shocked, but I understand. It's like you to believe you may die any second in the war so have your fun before hand and I'm just glad that you had the strength to tell me this and not hide the facts."

Duo's jaw clenched as he struggled not to fall to weakness. Hildie said that it was like him and that hurt him a lot, yet at the same time if got to him deeper than feelings could go because he _was_ predictable. Even though Hildie understood and made him feel better by hugging him, Duo still felt like a piece of crap for taking the chances he had.

"I still feel like shit," Duo said through the crook of her neck.

"It's okay. Besides, you wouldn't have met the little girl on the streets if you haven't of had her with that girl. Do you at least remember that girl's name?"

Duo nodded, "It's what frightened the crap out of me when I asked her. Sarah Cleaver, the cute redhead girl with amber green eyes and a sort of home-kept attitude, like she kept to herself mostly. I can see where Uno got her adorable ears and reddish highlights; I thought at first she was all brown—Uno—but after I asked the full name I noticed her hair was a little bit lighter colored and that's when she nodded."

"Well…okay then. So you do know this is the same girl you got her pregnant with, right?"

"It's gotta' be, I mean…it's not just coincidence that she and I have the same female in memory—me with a slut, Uno with a mother."

"Slut?" Hildie asked.

"Has to be…who would fuck a guy they just met?" Duo asked rhetorically because he had done just that with a girl. Hildie smirked.

"Okay then…let's conjure this up, shall we?" Duo leaned against the wall and looked deeply in thought. His hands formed loose fists below his jaw and his brows were digging into the middle of his forhead.

"Okay…I remember it was the first Thursday in February because Friday's were repair day in space and I was waiting for word to go bring the Gundam in; February because it was sort of cold and chilly yet there was talk of Valentines Day coming up."

"Okay. If I remember correctly, that was the seventh. I had to turn in the reports to my training from the month before."

"And nine months later would be…" Duo pondered and faced his girlfriend when he had the answer. "Halloween."

"Are you sure she was born exactly nine months after? She could have been premature."

"No, I'm pretty sure this is it. So that's it, huh? Uno's really my kid," Duo still could not get himself to believe the facts.

"I guess it is. What now? Are you going to tell her?" Duo shook his head. "No?"

"No…I prefer not to so that way she remains the Uno I found on the street. If I told her I was her father—which I would have to explain that part as well—she wouldn't understand so let's just leave it at that. In the future I may, but I highly doubt it."

"So what now?" Hildie asked, restating his question.

Duo sighed, "I guess go explain it to Quatre and see what he comes up with."

Hildie formed a tight smile with her lips and yet, curled them inwards. She gave Duo a hug and gripped some as he hugged back. She wasn't entirely angry but she wasn't set back as if she didn't care; she wanted to marry him one day after all.

Duo parted the hug and gave his girlfriend one last kiss for the night before he set himself outside. He woke his gal up for news about his real kid and expected her to go back to sleep as if nothing has happened; he was kidding himself. If Hildie _could_ and _did_ go back to sleep, she would most likely wake up to believe she was dreaming it all up and none of it was true.

The door shut and Duo sat back inside his vet. He closed the door at the same time he started the engine, wrapped the belt around himself, and backed out of the drive way. He loved Hildie so much that he was terrified if he would ever hurt her in any way. He already had plans for one day when he would get the courage and ask her to marry him, but he had to find the strength to conquer that task.

And to get the money for a ring.


	9. Maturity At Its Best

Duo's Child

Chapter 9

By the time Duo got back to the mansion, it was already morning. He stopped at a coffee shop on the way to get a bite to eat and something to drink. Though the lady at the counter asked what was wrong with him, going to a coffee shop at three in the morning, Duo just stared into the glass. Six hours since he found out about Uno and he still was having trouble believing it.

_Perhaps she isn't my real daughter and I can continue hoping that._ But he knew it wasn't any good to pray for something not true. He'd still relay to this moment of wondering who she really is, so at least he has a clue now.

_Just accept the truth!_

Duo's vet softly pulled up into the driveway at nine that morning. Slowly, he stood up and shut the door. The air was crisp and cool being this early in the morning and Duo knew the first thing that had to be done: he had to talk to Quatre. Getting away with Quatre knowing would at least calm him enough to know he still has a place to fall back upon.

A light breeze blew across Duo's face as he took his first step on the property that morning. The first thing he noticed was Wufei's bike missing. He probably got up around six again to head off to work. Duo wasn't as terrified as he was the night before, but he wasn't easy and laid back about the deal either. He knew now he had loads of work to do.

His keys clanged against each other as he fumbled through them for the proper house keys. The knob jiggled once he started unlocking the door and finally it opened. He silently stepped inside and carefully shut the door behind him. Quatre spotted him from across the halls and tilted his head.

Duo stepped up to him and swiped his hand through the side of his hair, letting the loose ends fall and drape around his wrist. He smirked when he saw how caring Quatre stared at him; almost like an angel. Duo lowered his head a moment then lifted it and began.

"Meet in your office?"

Quatre nodded, letting Duo pass him up and step into his office. Duo's was completely different at this moment; his look, his movements, even his voice. It was as if someone smacked a maturity stick across his face and let the stimulants take over from there. He was walking more sternly and not just the usual slouch; he allowed his body to sway side to side as he stepped each foot onto the ground and frankly, Quatre's never seen Duo so different in _all_ the years they've known each other.

He kind of resembles a hot jock in his early twenties the young teens usually gawk over, and Duo's even the correct age as one.

Quatre watched as Duo disappeared behind his office doors and continued to the kitchen for more coffee. When he returned, he found Duo sitting at one of the chairs placed in front of the desk with his head placed in between his hands, and seriously stressed out. Unlikely for Duo, Quatre thought, because he would have been sitting at my chair if something was stressing him.

Quatre sat down and placed his cup on the coaster. Duo remained silent and faced the ground, exhaled a large breath, then finally lifted his head up to face Quatre. Quatre just stared at him, wondering what was wrong.

"Quatre," Duo began, "have you ever had the feeling your life wasn't meant to take the path it's running?"

"What's wrong? You're so stressed looking, I've never seen you this…_different_…before."

"You mean matured?" Quatre stayed quiet. "I was at a coffee shop this morning and the lady said a mature young man shouldn't be out at this hour. I've never heard that before because people—like Wufei—usually think of me as a teenager still."

Duo wiped his mouth with his right hand, set his left on his knee, and looked away in thought; another new thing Quatre's never seen before.

"Uno's really my kid," he faced Quatre. "I didn't want to believe it at first—I still don't—but I can't run from this one like I had in the past."

"How can she be your real child?"

"A one-night-stand during the wars, that's how. I had sex with some girl and Uno was the outcome. But, my problem is…what the hell am I going to do? This is bugging me."

"Did you tell Hildie?"

"Yeah, I nearly drove off the interstate getting there last night, but I told her. I mean, I'm glad she understood, but I can see how much it hurt her. I want to be the one who will propose to her before some other guy comes along, but I don't yet that the money for that and I won't ask you for it either."

Quatre smiled; at least he's learning to mature by making the right decisions.

"And she didn't get mad?"

"Hildie? No. She understood it was something like me to do, but…that hurt a lot. I'm predictable and you can tell. I hid my feelings with a smile, but it killed me."

"Well Duo…I don't know what to tell you. Things may not change between you two." Quatre looked down at his desk in thought.

"Yes they will. I have to become stricter with her and she's not going to like that."

"Have you told her yet?"

"Uno? No, no I can't. I can't tell her. If I did, it would change too much," Duo slide his hand over his head and brushed his bangs out of the way. "I mean, look at me! I've never been so out-of-place as I am this moment. Hildie said I was predictable, it turns out Uno's my real kid, you're dead shocked at how I'm acting, I can see it!"

"Well I…" Quatre drifted off.

"Don't bother. It's true, I'm predictable and immature. Fifteen-years-old and I get some girl pregnant. I go off to war thinking nothing of it, then later come to find out the kid I adopted off the streets is that child."

"Duo, whatever you chose from this point on will be for the better. Like you said, I am shocked at how much you've changed since late last night to right now. You've matured beyond age in only a couple of hours. You're even _walking_ differently, let alone your movements are different as well."

Duo looked down and away in attempt to change the topic. "You put Uno to sleep?"

Quatre nodded. "She asked where you went."

"Yeah? What did you tell her?" Duo faced Quatre again, this time Quatre was able to see the maturity written on his face.

"That you forgot to do something and you might not be home until the morning…" Quatre trailed off, seeing Duo look down again smirking.

"Predictable. Duo Maxwell; don't worry about a thing, you can predict his every move." Duo stood.

"Duo, I don't mean to hurt you if I had. But try to look at it along the better side." Quatre stood to face him and walked around the desk towards him.

"Yeah? And what is that? Since I've changed I'm no longer predictable? That I'm still alive from what almost killed me last night? That I _might _have a chance to marry Hildie if I get the money? Quatre, face it; there is no bright side to this."

Duo opened the door to his office and stepped out into the hallway. "Thanks for the help anyways."

"Duo!" Quatre raced out into the hallway to catch up to him in time.

Duo turned his head around slowly to face him. "Hm?"

"Get some rest and meet back with me at a better time. You _do_ need to get Uno's school supplies, you know."

Duo nodded and as soon as Quatre freed his arm, walked away. Quatre remained standing in the same spot, watching after Duo. Duo's changed so much that Quatre was more than worried if his friend was alright. He knew Duo couldn't handle stress entirely, but this was practically _destroying_ the Duo he had met in the wars.

_The Duo everyone can predict._

Around twelve o'clock, Heero was making his way towards the kitchen when he found someone already there; as usual, Duo was preparing a sandwich for himself. Heero grunted and stepped towards the refrigerator. He slowly stopped when he noticed a change in Duo's appearance.

"Duo, you're not in black…and you've shaved." Heero blinked.

"Are you sure you're not just going color blind?" Duo put the sandwich together.

"I thought you wanted to grow out a Goatee."

"I've changed," Duo replied flatlined.

"And you in blue."

Duo turned and faced him, getting irritated. "Look, did you come in here to just insult me?"

"…Are you alright?" Heero was now getting worried. "You're not acting—"

"Normal? Let me guess, predictable Duo, always in black, always laid back and doesn't give a flip, right? Is that who were expecting?"

"What happened to you? All I did was ask a question!" Heero growled.

"Yeah, and expect someone else. I just found out last night that Uno's my real child, alright. Hildie said it was like me to do a one-night-stand; you, Quatre, Wufei and everyone else treat me like some teenager and expect things from me. Well I'm not like that anymore. It hurts to find out your _friends_ and even girlfriend thinks that of you."

"Duo," Heero began.

"What? Are you going to ask me why I'm changing?" Duo picked up his sandwich and wrapped a paper towel around it, grabbed his coke can, and began heading out the kitchen.

"I was going to say good."

Duo turned around at the door and faced him. "What?"

Heero faced him. "I was going to say it's a good thing that you're changing. I can actually look at you as a friend now instead of a younger brother."

Duo blinked; Heero still wasn't as decent a man with feelings and emotions but he was trying. Duo stifled a smiled.

"It's a good change. I'm sure you'll find it irritating to become a different person, but now more people will begin to look up at you. If you need me, I'm here."

Kind; Heero was being kind to him like he's always wanted. Duo could almost feel his eyes water because of how much he was being cared for. Instead, he let his emotions fall into place with his words.

"Thanks."

Heero nodded and watched as Duo turned away from the doorway.

Duo decided to eat his lunch in the library and read up about mechanics. Studying and learning about some tools and techniques were exciting to him. He was actually having fun reading.

Duo took the final bite of his sandwich and flipped the page to look at the inside of the picture shown. It showed all the parts labeled and explained the procedures off to the side. He was so into the writings that he didn't notice Trowa looking at him.

"Duo?"

Duo swallowed his bite. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing? Learning about mechanics?"

"…Did you not _expect_ me to be in here, studying a book?" Duo mocked.

Trowa blinked. "No, I didn't. I would figure you would learn from watching real mechanics instead of reading about them."

Duo sighed as Trowa sifted through a few books on the shelves. "Sorry, I've just been irritated lately. Everyone's expecting things of me so I figured it's time to say goodbye to that old self and become a more mature person."

"That's a good jump, Duo; for anybody I mean. But, don't forget about your relaxed side." Trowa scanned a book and shut the cover to face him. "You can easily get stressed out and the side you say people expect things out of never got stressed. It's always good to keep yourself a laid back personality just incase you need relaxing."

Duo blinked. "Rephrase all that, please."

Trowa smirked. "I mean, don't change all the way. Some people like you for the way you already are. Just mature the certain parts that make you look and feel immature, but stay yourself and don't become someone else to suit their needs."

Trowa bobbed his book at Duo and headed out of the room. "I'll let you study."

"That's a good idea, thanks." Duo watched as he shut the door.

_Stay myself, yet grow up. I think that's what Heero meant by saying it'll be hard._

Quatre and Wufei were debating when Duo stepped into the living room that afternoon. As usual, Wufei was agitated about something and Quatre was trying to make it better. Duo stopped and watched, then turned his head towards the television and found Uno playing video games.

"Winner, I came to the mansion to get away from work and the first thing out of your mouth is a question to go back to the office and hand Une something!"

"Wufei, I only asked. All you had to do was say no. Alright? I'm sorry for asking, I didn't know how stressed out you were."

Wufei looked away and at Duo. "Maxwell, what happened to your black attire? You're in blue."

"Point being? You're in the same clothes everyday. Doesn't your attire change?"

Wufei growled.

"Both of you please stop this!" Quatre shouted.

"I need to rest." Wufei stormed off.

"You need to relax." Duo stated and stepped up to Quatre.

"Duo, edging him on won't help any."

"Quatre, can you do me a favor. I need you to go with Uno and get her school supplies."

"Why can't you? I have to run to the office to give Une some papers she asked for last week."

"I can't because I'm going to drive around town and look into some mechanic jobs. I also don't know what supplies are needed."

"You're getting a job?" Quatre's eyes enlarged.

"…Shocked?"

"That's great!" Quatre clapped his hands together.

"Yeah, maybe now I can start saving up for a ring. She's a hot chick that I don't want another guy to grab her before me." Duo smirked. "So can you do that for me?"

"Sure. When is she starting?"

"Tomorrow. Early Monday morning. That's why I need you to go with her so I can look around."

"I'd be glad to. And good luck with finding a job." Quatre said, watching as Duo began walking towards the other side of the living room.

"Thanks again. Uno," Uno spun around to him smiling. "Quatre's going to take you out for school things, alright? Be good to him and I'll get you something."

Uno stood and ran up to him with open arms. Duo knelt down and hugged her tightly, his eyes shutting, and his emotions falling into another category than just guardian and child. He smiled and breathed in her scent, then placed his lips on her forehead hairline.

"Love you." Duo whispered then kissed her.

He stood and headed towards the door. "I'll be back probably at ten. The cells on if you need me."

Duo waved his right arm in the air towards Quatre and shut the door behind him. His emotions' changed, his personality's changed, and even his body has matured. He wondered now, if more people will begin treating him with respect than just an immature teen.


	10. New Life Begins

Duo's Child

Chapter 10

Later that day, Quatre was finished with phone calls and paper work. He had enough cuts on his fingers that he struggled not to bleed on his work. He sat back and thought to himself about what there was left to do in the day.

_Hm…Duo wanted me to take Uno out and get her school supplies for tomorrow. He was job searching; and to top it all off, I still have to run by the office._

Quatre sighed. It was a long day already and he wasn't even finished yet. He was wondering how Duo was taking his day.

Quatre stretched back into his chair and relaxed his muscles. When he was finished, he stood up and decided a drive would be better then eating lunch. He made his way towards the door, nearly loosing his balance and falling over on the way.

_I need to take a break soon else I'm going to end up killing myself._

Once he was finally out of the room, with trouble of walking to the door, he lightly rubbed his eyes and yawned. Working indoors for hours never had this affect on him until today; he was hoping he wasn't getting sick.

Slowly, he stepped into the living room and found Uno playing one of Duo's video games and scoring high points. He smirked at her ability to play well and decided to sit and watch for several minutes. She didn't even flinch a muscle when she felt his presence near, but instead chuckled a small laugh. He knew Uno enjoyed playing Ace Combat two because it was a fun air combat game, but he didn't know that she was so good with the controls of a realistic-looking flyers joystick.

"Game too easy?" Quatre smiled.

"They're stupid. I've played the same scenario for three times already and they still didn't learn my moves." Uno's plane just barely skimmed the top of a Stealth Bomber as she fired four missiles to the tail wing and shot it down, soon bringing up the Stats on her level.

"Uno, why don't you go ahead and save the game so we can get your school supplies?"

Uno yawned then replied. "Okay."

"Great, I also have to stop at the office—where I work—so I can hand some papers in. Is that alright as well?"

Uno nodded.

"Good. Come on, go get ready and we'll go out to eat lunch as well."

"Okay!" Uno shut off the game and hopped up to her feet. Once ready, she ran off to the hallway.

Quatre steadied himself and hoped he could get a balance at least decent enough to drive his vehicle.

Duo wasn't have an easy time as he had thought and hoped to have. Already he was turned away at the door by four different locations and with one left to look into, he was suddenly freaking out.

_Let's just hope it's my image and not my work._

He drove on and began heading into the decent part of town where only the high class people worked and lived. Quatre lived just outside the city to spend the time of peaceful moments and tranquility.

As he neared the classier sections, the trees started to get greener and the grass more luscious. The homes, high-tech to very modern, were spaced out far apart with plenty of lawn space in between each lot and the cars were getting more and more expensive from old fashioned rusted ones. The sky was bluer and the air fresher; Duo was already in heaven driving in this town that he suddenly wished he got a convertible Vet instead of a hardtop one.

A chain of buildings came up on his right and Duo began scanning the signs for the location he was in search of. The brick of these buildings were dark red and the concrete between each one was so white, he didn't think that mortar could ever look better. Some buildings held stucco on the sides in a tan to off white color while others had wood sidings. The expression Duo was getting wasn't as he expected; this territory wasn't his style but he was very delicate in knowing how to get with it.

On his left the trees blew about in his direction as people jogged along the pathway beneath. Sprays of water joined the gushed of wind as the river on washed up to greet the sides. It felt like California to him, only instead of having a beach on his left, it was a river with the beach expression and feeling. The town had put up sand and rock to make the sides of the river appear like a beach considering you weren't able to see across it to the other side.

Duo's mouth quirked a smile when he found 'Rusty's Lot' at the turn of the road up ahead. The sign was Navy blue with bright blue neon lights that were to be lit up at night fall. The fences around the building and lots were that same Navy blue color painted on poles you see surrounded car lots. In front of the building was an enormous lot filled with used cars, some ranging from old Chevy's to brand new Lamborghinis. Jaguars were lined along the right side of the lot while Ferrari's on the left. Typical SUVs, Cadillacs, Trucks, and Vans were lined in rows in the center. Behind those, Duo was able to catch a glimpse of more cars placed behind the main building. He figured back there had the rest of the cars turned in, such as Neons, Pontiacs, and other typically seen vehicles.

A road on the right side of the entire lot went all the way toward the center with a parking lot just right of that. In the center of the lot, a huge building stood out of the large gap that was encased with off white stucco and a front wall of windows. Rusty's Lot was written on the side of the glass wall in that same Navy Blue and had the same color for the interior. Along the sides of the building, labels varied all the way from Body Work to Auto Collision to Retail Shop. The place had it all.

As Duo entered the lot along the road, he drove by a work that was changing out the sign below the title. Now that Duo was past the man, he was able to see the message saying 'Closed until Beginning of New Year.'

Duo paced himself to get inside before they actually close.

He turned into the parking lot and drove down the aisles until he found a spot to park. He veered into the perfect spot he found right across from the door and quickly got out when ready. The door shut softly and Duo wasted no time reviewing the look of the place before heading towards the building doors; he was ready and waiting for a job and nothing was going to stop him.

He paused when he reached the front doors and slowly looked around. It wasn't the usual glass doors most buildings had in the front, it was a circular door this lot held in the entrance of the building. No other doors were placed in the front of the building except for three circular glass doors.

Duo shrugged and entered quickly. Once inside, the cool air hit him like a breeze on a winter's day. The interior was Navy blue and white, the space filled with remarkably expensive cars he had never heard of, and glass walled offices lined along the top rim of the second floor balcony.

A man in black slacks and blue jean shirt stepped up to him. "May I help you?"

The man had dirty brown hair with bleached tips that formed the sides of his face to his ears. His eyes were aquamarine and his teeth amazingly white. His appearance looked mid twenties, but preferably younger.

Duo read the name of his tag. "Sorry to bug you, Richard, by coming in before you all close."

"Not a problem, we're not closing until tonight at six. We reopen next year."

"Why the long time?" Duo asked.

"We're remodeling and changing the name from Rusty's Lot to Citywide Specialists."

"What all do you have then? Carlot, body work, collision…"

"We have a new and used car lot, a body and collision repair shop, a retail shop for those in search of varies enhancements, a new paint shop, and even we're now adding in a showcase room for those who have dreams of cars but no idea to customize them. Of course, our starting prices for those are one million."

Duo remained silent and uneased. "One million?"

The man nodded, "For customizable cars that are extremely rare to find, such as a Ferrari and Vet combination or Truck and Camero. Sometimes people come here to view the hotrods we have in store or the designer's challenges, which are just experiments to see if they would work; they aren't for sale or able to be driven."

"Wow, you guys are really going out of the publics way." Duo blinked and watched a young couple check out a later version of the vet.

"Yes, we're the only company to ever go this far with a car."

"Why are you changing the name?"

"Rusty retired; he was the founder of this little placement and had dreams he didn't know how to control. He tried to sell cars as he worked on them, but he failed miserably so Jenkins took over. Now, what can I help you with?"

Duo faced Richard once again, "I'm looking for a job."

"Got experience?"

"Anything in particular?" Duo asked.

"Anything dealing with cars?" Richard smirked.

Duo growled, "I'm good with repairing and fixing, as well as installing."

"Hm…you're good but you have to be great to work here. Very well, follow me." Richard turned around and starting walking towards the curved staircases in the back of the large showcase room.

Duo growled intensely inside but eased his muscles when that same young couple smiled at him. He smiled back and followed Richard up the staircase to a room with a brick glass wall. Richard tapped on the door; them opened and allowed Duo inside.

"Mr. Jenkins will speak with you." Richard sneered at him.

"Thank you." Duo replied snobbish. He stepped inside as Richard shut the door behind him. The room wasn't very large but was bigger than the typical corner office in a workforce building. Duo sat down at a chair in front of the desk where a man with slick blonde hair typed on a computer.

The man turned and faced him, smiling. "So, what can I do for you?"

To Duo, the man—Jenkins—appeared late thirties and very clean cut, not snobbish like that Richard guy he just had deals with. He was dressed in a white dress shirt and held a Rolex on his left wrist. His hair was not only slick backwards, but it was awfully shiny as well.

"Well, I'm looking for a job."

"In what branch?" The man smirked. "Can't just go up to a dealer and say you want a job; we may put you up as a janitor."

Duo blinked then found the man smiling as his joke. He smirked.

"Anything that allows me to install or repair things."

"What type of worker are you?"

"…A _great_…worker."

"I see Richard has had words with you. I'll probably fire him tonight if he doesn't quite his attitude. He came from California and I've already had other customers complain about his attitude."

"Oh really?" Duo grinned. "I was beginning to think this place was all stuck up."

"No, but he gives it that look. So, what sort of great things do you do?" The man chuckled.

Duo smiled, "Anything along the lines of installing or repairing and fixing up. I've even worked out on motorcycles once."

"Did it do well?"

"Yeah, only the man ripped me off. He didn't want it at the end and left me alone with a vehicle I didn't know how to drive and spent my money fixing it up."

"What did you do?"

"I sold it to some kid who wanted to buy a good bike but didn't have enough money to buy a new one."

Jenkins nodded, "It seems you also have some retailing in your system as well."

"Well, I can talk people into things. I was a good person at that one time or another."

"Really? Explain. Since you don't have a resume, I'm hoping you can fill me in on the details yourself."

Duo nodded, "Ask away."

"What places have you looked into before ours?"

"Everything. This is the last place I've seen for miles since I left the mansion."

"Mansion?"

"I live with Quatre Winner. We were all buds since the wars." Duo hesitated. "I was a Gundam pilot and since the wars have ended, I've been working in the scrap and junk yards but the place was closed down since it lost so much attraction. I wound up moving in with Quatre later on."

"Really? You fought in the wars? Which machine?"

"Deathscythe, the black one."

"With the scythe?" Duo nodded. "Amazing. You don't appear to look like one of the pilots. Rumor had it you all were young, like the Vice Foreign Minister, but I've never believed it."

"Well, we were." Duo smiled happily that this man was a fan of his past work.

"My daughter enjoyed watch the news when she saw your Gundam on screen. She's a morbid girl, but I wasn't pissed off with your side. I lived in the colonies at that time."

"Well, we have something in common them, don't we?" Duo smirked.

"Yes we do. So the junk yard then what?"

Duo shrugged, "Nothing, I just took a long, long break of nothing and enjoyed the peacefulness we worked for. I'm getting back into the work force because automobiles are fun things to do but living in a mansion, people are terrified of my prices I offer as a one man worker."

Jenkins nodded, "That's how it was when I was growing up, except I began on bicycles instead of Gundams like you."

Duo laughed. "Yeah, well, we all start somewhere sometime."

"Exactly. So, I guess we'll just have to see where you stand to begin. You say installments and repairs?" Duo nodded. "What happened to that boys' motorcycle you worked on before?"

"It was hit in an accident he survived in. Installments I can do because, like when Quatre bought a new pair of headlights to replace his old ones, they're easy to just pop out the old and insert the new."

"That's good. We have room for you in the repair shop. Would you like to join that team, or scan this place for more?"

"Hey, repairing is what I do best with. Coming from the wars and all, I was able to repair my Gundam and get prepared for the next mission by the end of the week."

"And since those machines were big, I'm sure you were pretty fast."

"Quite. So what kind of cars do you see here anyways? Porsche? Corvette? Ferrari's I see."

"Yeah, just about anything and everything except for boats, planes, and eighteen wheelers. Rusty was my father-in-law and gave me this lot for a wedding gift long ago, but wouldn't give it up until now. If I hadn't talked him out of it, we'd be bankrupt."

"Ouch."

Jenkins nodded. "So, when can you start?"

"Well, tomorrow if you need me I can start. My little girl begins school tomorrow and I do want to be there for her."

"How old is she?"

"First grade, five-years-old. It was a one-night-stand long ago that wound up costing me her."

"Wow, that young and smart?"

"We trained her to get ready; she didn't even know how to read."

"Well, the lot may be closed, but the shop isn't. Come by tomorrow at twelve if you can and we'll put you to the test; one at the latest."

Duo nodded and stood up with Jenkins. "Will do, glad to have met you Sir. You've saved me a lot of hard stress."

Jenkins shook his hand and smiled. "Oh really? No body hired you?"

"Turned me down flat at the door. Maybe now I can save up for a ring for my girlfriend."

Jenkins smirked and released his hand. "Good luck with that as well. The pay here is decent to great. Beginners don't even start at minimum wage; they start at least twenty."

"Terriffic. See you tomorrow then." Duo smiled and turned towards the door.

"Yes, you too."

On the way home, Duo was getting overly excited at his new job. He now gets to drive from the mansion to the, all the way across town to the richest part of the city, and work at a place that has such excellent pay. He was more than happy at his life.

So within the next four months, I'll probably have enough to propose to Hidie.


	11. Just Another Day

Duo's Child

Chapter 11

Quatre had enjoyed the day better than he figured he would have. He took Uno to Freddie's, a hamburger joint just a little ways out of town, and let her order whatever she so desired; he found that Duo's teachings of food surely got to her deeply. He also let her get a milkshake and soda on the side. Quatre got his combo meal of a vegetarian burger with coleslaw and fries on the side while a soda to drink. He wasn't a vegetarian, but their food was delicious that if he could eat there all his life, he'd become one.

Quatre slowed the car for a light as he neared the entrance to the local shopping store. Uno was gazing around at the sights before her; she's never been to this side of town before. When he began driving again, he pulled the car into the parking lot. Spaces in the back cleared his vision for the spaces in the front and when he got closer to the store. People walked to and from their cars, some carrying bags while others held their kid's hands. Quatre found a parking spot three spaces down from the front of the isle and pulled in to park.

He turned off the engine and looked at Uno, "You ready?"

Uno looked at him and shrugged. Quatre smiled then looked closer and found the very similar hereditariness that she held from Duo. He sighed and smirked.

_I hope Duo's doing alright looking for place to work._

Quatre got out of the car and Uno after him. The car locked itself—being with power controls—and he took Uno's hand and walked. Uno swayed her head side to side as the braid flipped around. Quatre giggled.

When they reached the store and stepped inside, Quatre picked up Uno and placed her in a shopping cart.

_Hopefully, she won't grow up to be _exactly_ like Duo and require someone to push this as he sits down every time we enter these stores._

Quatre began pushing the cart around as Uno sat in it and looked. He traveled down the isles until he got to the office and school supplies. He wiggled his way through the small crowd of parents and kids until he got to a clearing.

"Okay Uno," Quatre began, "Pick out some pencils and notebooks."

Uno climbed out and looked around. The pencils were all of blue, yellow, purple, and other dinky colors; she wanted black. She looked around and found dark blue and smiled. Grabbing about five of them, she went to the notebooks and picked up a few black ones.

During this time, Quatre was smiling and watching her reply what Duo would have probably done in his youth; though he keeps forgetting Duo said he wasn't always like this if not for the two church parents he had. Uno looked back at him and smiled.

"Okay Uno, now you need map pencils and scissors and a bag to hold it all in."

Trowa stepped out of the library and looked up to see Heero walking down the hallway. He smiled to Heero a little as Heero stopped and faced him, shocked that he found Trowa where he was. Heero smirked.

"I heard Duo's getting a job," Heero started up.

Trowa nodded, "He said anything dealing with mechanics. I wonder if he found anything yet."

"I'll give him three weeks to find a job for his skills. He doesn't rely on people around him, though he should. He worked most his years with the Sweeper Group, I figured something would have taught him to be companions with teammates."

"What do you call us?" Trowa asked.

"He had to work with us in saving the world. Duo likes to do things on his own because he thinks he can get it finished faster, but since Duo _has_ changed, perhaps he's become a team player." Heero and Trowa remained facing each other in the eyes, and then suddenly smirked.

"You lost," Trowa grinned.

"I did? What of you?" Heero joked.

"The let's test it," Trowa turned to go back into the library.

Heero nodded, "You're going down."


	12. First Day of School

Duo's Child

Chapter 12

Duo struck Uno's face with a pillow early morning. "Wake up, Uno! I gotta get you ready for school."

"No." Uno mumbled as she curled up under the covers.

Duo sighed the pulled the covers off her bed. "Yes."

"No," Still, Uno managed to keep herself comfortable enough and hugged the pillow more.

"Uno, I'm going to count to three and if you're still lying down when I'm done, then I'll go get Heero."

"Hn." Uno replied.

"One…two…"

"I'm up." Her head sprang out of the covered hole she dug and softly glared at Duo.

Duo smirked, "I know."

Uno walked down the hallway a half hour later and up to Duo. He handed her the backbag Quatre bought for her and smiled. Uno frowned her sleepy eyes.

"You look lovely today," Duo rubbed in.

"Can it, Duo."

Duo laughed and put his arm around her back, guiding her towards the front door.

"Don't beat too many people up in school now, you hear me Uno? It's your first day so give it some time before you take it over."

"Hn." Uno smirked and stepped outside towards the car. "What are you doing today?"

Duo unlocked the car and started towards the driver's seat. "Preparing for work…I start later on today."

"What as?" Uno sat inside.

"Mechanic." Duo sat inside and shut the door. "Something you've probably never heard of yet."

"What do you do?"

As Duo described what mechanics do on the way to her school, she began taking note of the neighborhoods around her. Knowing Duo, she'll end up riding the bus to school a few days and knowing Quatre, wind up meeting people. She shut her eyes, expecting a long ride, and before she had enough to fully relax and wake herself up, the car came to a halt.

"Don't fall asleep, Uno. The school's right there." Duo pointed ahead of them to a giant building with Winner imprinted on the top.

Duo handed Uno a small piece of paper. "Here's your schedule. I'll pick you up at 3:30 when the elementary grades get out, alright?"

Uno nodded and gave Duo a hug when he leant over. She held the paper and opened the door.

"Uno," Uno looked back at him, "you behave yourself today."

As Uno entered the school, she took in the amount of people that were around her. Being in Quatre's mansion has taught her one important thing that she defiantly needed use here: a sense of direction and a good memory. She looked around at the walls with listed signs and then to a person stepping up to her.

"Looking for a classroom, little one?" A female teacher looked down at her. Uno nodded and showed her the classroom listed on the paper.

"Alright, I'll take you to him. Come on." She smiled down at Uno and placed her hand on Uno's back, guiding Uno where to go.

When they entered another hallway, Uno found many more students her age and doors where teachers welcomed each person. The teacher guiding Uno directed her towards a guy at the end of the hall. When they reached him, Uno nearly had to look up to see his face. The man looked down at her and instantly took in thought.

_She looks very familiar._ He looked at her black attire and long braid, compiling them with her adorable violet-blue eyes.

"This is a new student for your classroom." The lady said to the man. He nodded and took the paper Uno lifted up to him.

"Thank you Mrs. Lighthouse." He glanced at Uno after he read her name. "Uno Maxwell."

Uno nodded. "My name is Mr. Merquise." _Impossible.__ Maxwell? The look?_

He handed her the paper back and had her enter while he shut the door behind them. He pointed to a chair for her to sit in while he presumed his way towards the front of the room.

Uno sat down in a chair along the center right-side of the room and glanced around at everyone. Some boys and some girls sat in the room; a girl in front of her and a girl behind while a boy sat to her left. She returned to face the teacher.

"I hope you have read the two chapters I assigned for everyone," he began, "because today there is a test about it."

The class groaned and a few students dropped their heads on the desks. Uno looked around at each person. She remained quiet as a few others glanced in her direction.

"Yes, we have a new student. This is Uno Maxwell; she has just transferred from home school."

A girl raised her hand and was given permission to speak. "I heard home school is for bad kids."

Uno bit her tongue and looked down.

"That's not true Sarah. Some of the brightest people were home schooled."

"But that means they can't fight then."

Uno bit harder.

"Bobby, don't make assumptions. Not all home schooled children are what you think. Yes, Cindy?"

"But, if Uno was home schooled, then why didn't her parents let her go to public school? Did they think she was too good for us?"

Uno's tongue was beginning to hurt, but still she bit down. Mr. Merquise noticed this action by the clenching of Uno's jaw and spoke louder, afraid if his assumptions were correct.

"That's enough! Any more negative talk from any of you and you will loose recess for a week!" The classroom went silent. "Now, take out a pencil and a piece of paper and we will begin the test. Uno, if you wish you can try but you don't need to."

Some students glanced at Uno and gave her displeasing looked. Uno ignored them simply by making glares towards each person and took out a pencil and some paper. She looked up at the teacher when she was ready.

"Alright, answer them as best as you can without cheating; I will be watching." He turned on the overhead and stepped back to his seat. "Begin."

Uno looked at each question and read each one carefully. To her, they all looked like scrambled words, something Trowa taught her near the end of her lessons. She wrote her name on the paper and began jotting down the answers to what she thought was correct.

About ten minutes later, Mr. Merquise turned off the projector and cleared his throat. "Do you all think you did okay?" The class grumbled. "Well, here's the answers. Uno, like I stated, this doesn't count against you so you don't need to worry about them, alright? Okay, answer one…mouse. Two, letter. Three, rat. Four, cheese. Five, hamster. Six, scissors. Seven, number. Eight, phone. Nine, candle. And ten, angel. And the bonus question, computer. Now tally up the scores and do not cheat; when I call your name, tell me how many you wrong. Corey."

"Three," replied Corey.

"Okay, 70. Sarah?"

"Eight," Sarah frowned.

"Alright, 20. Doug?"

"1!" Doug grinned.

"Doug, you failed."

"I know," Doug sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Jessica?"

"Two," Jessica spoke, looking at a poster.

"Good, 80. Brittany?"

"One wrong," Brittany smirked, glancing at Uno.

"90, excellent." _As usual._ "Theresa?"

Theresa sighed, "four."

Mr. Merquise nodded, "okay. 60. Claryce?"

"Six," she answered.

"40. Read the chapters, Claryce; unless you want me to have another conference with your parents." Mr. Merquise looked at Uno. "Did you attempt?"

"I got none wrong." Uno blinked.

"What about the bonus?" She nodded. Mr. Merquise smirked.

"She cheated!" Doug exclaimed.

"She had to, home school kids aren't smart!" Brittany grinned at Uno.

"Cheater!!! Mr. Merquise, she's not allowed to go to recess 'cuz she cheated!" Corey shouted out.

Uno looked at each student then to Mr. Merquise. Her teacher stepped up to her and looked at her paper, then around at the other papers. He placed hers back down and returned to the front.

"Actually, I could state you three cheated." He pointed out towards the students around Uno's desk. "She aced right through the problems you got wrong."

Uno smirked.

"No way! She had to cheat off Brittany! Brittany's the smart one in the class; no home school kid can match her!" Doug stated. Brittany turned around in her seat to smile and blinked her eyes at Uno, rubbing in the fact that she's the popular one.

Uno slowly glared a glare her teacher recognized quickly. "How could I cheat if nobody else attempted the bonus question?"

"You probably just had luck, that's all." Brittany smirked and looked back down at her own desk.

"Okay, quiet. Uno did not cheat and I will not hear this topic anymore. Now, I want you all to read the next four chapters in your Litho-Words text book for another test tomorrow. Right now, pass up you tests and take out your social studies book. Uno, I'll get you text books tomorrow so look on somebody else's."

Uno nodded and looked around at each person who sat besides her; they all sneered at her so she figured she'll just have to look over Brittany's shoulder. Another student who sat to Brittany's left, Claryce, whispered to Brittany that Uno was looking over her shoulder. Uno ignored and relaxed in her chair.

"Okay, yesterday we were talking about how the start of all the wars was started by rebels against peace. Open to page 352 and notice the chart on the left. It shows how each side had its own decisions on what they believed could be obtained through peace. Notice how both sides agreed 50% that peace could lead to freedom, but notice how side A believed peace through wars and side B through pacifism."

"Mr. Merquise? What's pacifism?"

Uno blinked; she thought everyone knew.

"It's a belief that everything can be settled through discussions without a war. They disbelieve in war all together and believe talking can set things right. Yes, Brittany?"

"But what if the other person doesn't want to talk?"

"Then that becomes a war in the long run. Pacifism was tried years ago when the Peacecraft Kingdom was in power; unfortunately, their triumphs were destroyed when the rebel did not agree with talking things out."

"But why did people want to fight instead of talk?"

"Let's ask Uno! She was home schooled! She would know!" Doug exclaimed as everyone turned to look at her. Mr. Merquise sighed and Uno blinked, looking around at everyone.

Brittany grinned and turned back around in her chair. "She's not smart at all. She probably doesn't even know what's going on right now."

Uno growled; she was getting fed up and no longer cared. "Shut up, Brittany."

The class grew quiet and their teacher began staring at Uno, getting unhappy.

"Did you hear what she said?" Brittany stated to Mr. Merquise.

"You only think I'm stupid because I don't speak in class, which is what the rules said to do. But how can I be stupid from being home schooled if I skipped kindergarten when I signed up?"

"Uno, I want you to stay after when everyone goes to lunch." Stated Mr. Merquise. The other student's 'ooh'd and 'ahh'd at her, but still she ignored them, biting her tongue and picturing herself explaining to Duo what was going on.

"You're in trouble!!!" Taunted Doug.

"Doug! You're staying on the side today for recess!"

"What? Why?!"

"Anyone else who decides to tease Uno as well will loose their recess just like Doug. Understand? Everyone nodded. "Good, now we're going to lunch but when we return I want none of you to be rude to Uno. We will take a pop quiz on your social studies assignments and anyone else who decides to talk bad to her will have more to do."

Everyone stood up from their desks and lined up at the door, waiting until Mr. Merquise said they could go. "Uno, on other days you will be assigned a spot in the line according to your height but today I'll walk you down to the cafeteria. Okay?" Uno nodded and he nodded for the kids to leave the room.

Uno looked down at her desk as he sat on the desktop besides her. She glanced up at him.

"Sorry."

Mr. Merquise sighed. "Uno, who are your parents?"

"I don't have any."

"Who brought you here and taught you at home?"

Uno pondered up at him.

"I understand this is your first day here but normally I don't let people off so easy when they act rudely to others in class. But, considering this is your first day here and the other students treated you badly, I'll let you slide. I just don't want to see you acting wrong towards them, alright? Treat others the way you want to be treated."

"I do." Uno replied and looked up at him. "They don't."

Mr. Merquise leaned back some, taking in note of her appearance. "Who takes care of you? Are they any relation to you?"

Uno shook her head.

"What's their names?"

"Why?"

He smirked. "Alright, I can look it up on my own, but the way your acting reminds me of a few people I once knew. But Uno, try not to fight back when people are mean to you; okay? They might be rude but just ignore them and it'll go away."

"No it doesn't. I ignored them and they didn't stop," frowned Uno.

"Well, they will now. I'll make sure they don't talk bad to you anymore, okay?"

"Okay."

"I don't want to see you turn into a bully because you look like you can. But, I do have a question to ask of you."

"Okay."

"Why do you dress like that?" He had to ask one way or another where she'd tell him what he needed to know.

"Like what?" Uno questioned.

"The braid and the black clothes? Why not color? Who braids it?"

"Duo braids my hair."

"Duo?" _It can't be._

Uno nodded. "Mmhm. Quatre says I look just like him, too."

_My goodness._ "Really? Quatre and Duo, huh?"

Uno nodded.

"Do you live with Heero, Trowa, and Wufei as well?"

"Yeah; how do you know?"

"Let's just say they're old acquaintances of mine." Mr. Merquise placed his hand on her back as they both stood to go to lunch.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No Uno, not this time. Next time you will be so be careful. I'm sure with Duo around, you've learned to have a temper, but you need to learn to control it."

By the time recess came near, Uno was exhausted. Everyone ignored Uno like she had hoped they would, but she wasn't meeting any friends like Duo said to. She did, however, not fight anyone. Uno followed the big crowd of kids outside to the playgrounds and looked around for somebody to play with. It seemed nobody had any spare time for her so she decided to go to the swings and sit down. When she sat, a few other students circled around her; Uno looked up innocently at each one as the sun shined in her face.

"That's my swing you're sitting on! Get off!" A chubby boy proclaimed.

"No." Uno frowned.

A girl sat besides her; she had frizzy red hair and purple glasses. "We'll make you move, so get off!"

"No." Uno gripped onto the chains of the swing.

"Okay, let's compete." Said a tall, skinny, boy with curly black hair; he sat on the other side of Uno. "Whoever is last to go highest when Bill says to stop, has to get off."

"Sounds great to me!" Stated the girl.

Uno sighed, "fine."

"Ready…set…" Bill began. "Go!"

And as soon as Bill leaped to the side, the three were off on a competition to swing the highest. At first, the girl on Uno's right was in the lead and soon after the other boy on her left was highest. Uno continued to swing without a care in the world and before she knew it, Bill shouted to stop and Uno realized she was at the top, just above the bar.

"Look girl! Bill said to stop and I was higher than you! So get off!" The other girl yelled out at her.

Uno sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Uno didn't stop, but waited until her swing was high enough in the sky in front of the crowd before she leaped off. When she pushed herself off the swing, she was high enough to look above the entire crowd of people and see her teacher watching her. Uno landed on the ground without pain and started walking the second the sit ground. The children behind her teased and joked at her, but Uno just ignored them and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

_Duo…why did you make me come here?_

3:30 hit and Uno waited out in the front of the school for Duo's black vet to make its appearance. Besides her, Brittany and Doug stood together waiting for a ride. Brittany glanced at Uno.

"So, you sure your mom can give me a ride home today?" Doug asked.

"Yeah. My mom doesn't care; she's done it before."

Uno looked to the busses and watched other people get on their designated selection. She sighed and watched as a blue car drove by her and stopped by the curve near Brittany.

"Wow! My older brother said a Lexus is a fancy car." Doug proclaimed, looking at the Lexus symbol on the front of the car.

"My mom owns her own company." Brittany leaned in to ask her mother is Doug could have a ride home.

Uno looked ahead when she saw the familiar black vet pull up and stop besides her. Windows automatically went down on their own and heavy metal music lowered. Brittany and Doug glanced back at Uno and sneered her.

"Hey Uno! Ready to go home?" Duo smiled at her and unlocked the automatic doors.

Uno glared him as she opened the door.

"Doug…looks, it's Uno." Brittany nodded towards her. Uno glanced at them.

"Dude…my older brother had one of those! Those are extremely cool cars!"

"There's no way Uno can have that. Don't forget, she's home schooled."

Uno ignored their talk and sat in the car. She slammed the door shut and slammed her back against the seat. Duo heard a tiny growl and looked at her.

"Bad day?"

"Everyone's being mean to me so I told them to shut up."

"Uno. What did I tell you about talking rudely to others?"

"I don't care. Mr. Merky said he'd stop anyone who treats me badly as long as I don't fight back."

"But you did." Uno continued glaring the car in front of them and breathed heavy.

"How many people were rude to you today?"

"All of them. They said home school kids are stupid, bad, and don't know anything and don't know how to fight."

Duo sighed and shut his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. They were treating her as bad as they have treated him on the first and only day of his school many years ago, only she didn't hit anyone—yet. Duo inhaled.

"Uno, just promise me one thing: don't hurt anyone so badly if you ever get into a fight. Okay?" Uno glanced up at him.

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Let's just say…" Duo found enough space in front of him to drive away and started the engine once again. "Something similar happened to me when I was back in school."

Duo grinded the wheels on the car and peeled away from the front of the school. He raised the volume of his CD and drove down the street in a fast frenzy, cutting off other cars and the slow-ass Lexus that was hogging the fast lane.

Duo didn't want to have to deal with another problem like the one he had to deal with when he was younger, but if this keeps up, he's removing Uno from school all together and hiring a private tutor. Hell, he might even ask Wufei for help.


	13. The Warning or The War

Duo's Child

Chapter 13

Duo slammed the door shut and stepped heavily into the living room. Uno had already entered a couple minutes before and said she was going to the gym to work out. Duo was thinking of joining to take off some steam.

Quatre looked up when Duo growled past him. He turned and watched as Duo made the path to the kitchen and looked back to Wufei. They both blinked at each other.

Heero was eating a pizza when Duo burst into the kitchen and nearly choked on a slice when Duo threw open the refrigerator door.

He coughed, "Duo. Wha-what's wrong?"

Duo sighed and shut the door, "I'm giving her one more day in school then I'm taking her out entirely!"

"Duo?" Came Quatre's soft voice. "But why?"

Duo turned to face Quatre and Wufei, "Why not? You want her to paralyze people as I had in my schooling days?"

"You went to school?" Wufei _had_ to ask.

Duo smirked, "For a single day. Sister Helen removed me before I completed any more because I put some kids in the hospital. But already, they were treating Uno like shit! She said some of the kids were saying that home schools children don't know anything and are puny. She said her teacher would take care of it, but I know for a FACT that is shit!"

"Duo, please stop cussing." Quatre eased. "I know you're angry but try and calm down a little. Maybe this is just a bad day for her."

"Yeah, and I give her one more day to make it better before I remove her entirely and hire a tutor. I have the money."

"I thought you were saving up for a ring," Heero reminded.

Duo sighed and lowered his head, his eyes shutting. "I know, but right now, Uno is far more important. She's got a life in front of her—one we have never had a chance to get."

Everyone went silent in thought of their past after Duo's statement. Trowa walked in and stepped by Quatre.

"Uno said she was frustrated from what happened in school. She said she spoke back to the class but they only made it worse for her." He looked at Duo, "She told me to give you a message: take her out or she'll fight back."

Heero smirked, "sounds just like yourself, Duo."

"Shut up," Duo frowned.

Quatre giggled, "if you want, I can call the school and have them talk to her teacher. Maybe I can have her class changed to another or put her in some sort of honors class for gifted intelligences."

"No, let's just give her one more day. But I swear, if they don't stop none of us will be able to control Uno. Believe me, that girl and I combined could probably take Heero and his maniac ways down real easily."

"I would teach Uno the proper ways to fight and the self discipline behind it, but I don't have the time." Duo looked at Wufei, "It's not hard. But I just don't see time in my schedule where I can fit it in. Sally and I just got a new task from Une the other day and we're both in a dilemma of stress."

Duo sighed, "it's alright. I guess I just need to let things go and see where they end up."


	14. The Start of Shinimegami

Duo's Child

Chapter 14

Uno stepped into class the next day with a glare on her face. Duo had warned her, saying that if she still had not found a friend by the end of the week, he'd remove her from school. She was hoping that would happen but she wouldn't fight against meeting people because she can't do such a thing; she's got too kind of a heart to harm anyone against her own will.

Uno sat down in her seat while she watched as a few felloe classmates entered the room. Mr. Merky wasn't yet in so she had a safe welcome into the room without being reminded of what happened. Brittany sat down in front of her, sighing and slamming her back against the seat to make Uno's desk shake. Doug sat besides her.

"So Uno, what does your dad do?" Doug asked.

Brittany turned around to face her, "considering he's got a fancy sports car, I didn't think you'd have that much money. After all, you were home schooled."

"Why should myself be home schooled matter whether or not we have money?" Uno blinked after she spoke her sentence so confusingly; she needed to hang around with Heero and Trowa more often.

The other two blinked then finally Brittany spoke out, "well, since it takes a lot of money to home school somebody. My mom said there's a lot of taxes."

"Quatre pays for it all. We live in a mansion outside of town, Duo says."

"Who's Duo?" Asked Cindy, who was sitting behind her.

"I thought we had assigned seats," Smirked Uno.

"We pay no attention to them and he doesn't care." Cindy replied. "So, is Duo your father?"

"I have no parents. Duo is my guardian." At saying this, Brittany turned around to face Uno.

"No parents? So you were adopted?" Uno nodded.

"I grew up on the streets. My mom and dad died in the White Fang war."

All three went silent and Uno looked down at her desk where she held of her notebook and a pencil. From that, she was saddened by the sudden realization that this would give everyone another reason to pick on her; Uno cursed herself silently.

"You said you lived in a mansion?" Brittany reminded everyone.

Uno nodded. "With Quatre Winner."

"Winner?" By now everyone in the classroom was paying attention to Uno's story. "Isn't that the school's name?" Corey asked.

"He said he owns this school after his dad died in the war."

"Wow, so you're just about the richest person in the _entire_ school!" Claryce exclaimed.

Brittany threw herself back into the seat of her desk while Uno smirked. Everyone returned to face the front of the room. Uno grinned; she was just about to take over the school as easy as that. She looked up and found Mr. Merky staring at her, a tiny smirk forming at the corners of his mouth yet at the same time, sadness forming in his eyes. Uno figured he had heard her explaining her parents loss from the war and felt her pain.

Jessica raised her hand. "What was the point of the White Fang war?"

Mr. Merky stood and sat on the corner of his desk, sighing and deciding how to explain such a confusing war to a bunch of children. He looked at each student, then to Uno.

"It was a war that was supposed to end all wars. Even though the Mareimaia War took down a few civilians, White Fang just about kill half of the Earths population. The point behind the beliefs of the White Fang were to fight a war that had to deal with all civilians, all colonists, and all soldiers to get them to understand just how terrible wars can be. It was supposed to make everyone understand that they had to work and maintain peace instead of leaving it up to the government to grasp it."

"But, why not just talk to each other and have everyone agree that war is bad?" Theresa asked.

"It's not easy to talk to people when they don't wish to talk," spoke Uno. "Remember, you wouldn't let me talk yesterday when I was trying to explain how I was smarter than all of you."

Brittany turned to face Uno, "Then why don't you tell us why people won't want to talk."

Brittany smirked at Uno. Uno glanced around at everyone. Mr. Merky folded his arms, awaiting Uno's proposal.

"Bullets kill people, but can you talk to a bullet and expect it to stop from killing you?" Uno questioned. "No, because it doesn't want to listen and only wants to kill for whatever reason it may have."

Mr. Merky smirked at Uno's statement. "Uno, I see you understand the meaning of war and pacifism better than I thought."

"That doesn't make sense, bullets don't have ears so how could you talk to them?"

"Doug, Uno is using a bullet as a symbol of someone who is out for bloodshed and not willing to talk. She made a wonderful example using the words she had to explain the difference between pacifism and rebellion. Some people believe an eye for an eye while others believe that no matter what happens, revenge is not the way of life."

"So Uno's a killer!" Corey snapped out loud and pointed towards Uno.

Mr. Merky lowered his head and shut his eyes. This was going to be a hard year.

By the afternoon, after recess and after most of the day—3:00—Uno had already practically owned half the school and the entire elementary department. While at recess, the same group of kids around the swings decided to make another bet and even though Uno won, decided Uno had to go. She didn't argue with them, instead, leaped off the swing as she had the previous day and flipped in the air, a trick Trowa had taught her a while back. Once she hit ground, she walked on as if she wasn't in pain from the sudden hard landing on concrete. The kids at the swings 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at her, but Uno ignored them and walked towards the basketball court.

There, a few older guys stepped up to her and told her to leave. Uno blinked at them and asked why, considering they looked older but appeared younger in body. Uno had their ball in her arms—since it rolled away from them when she stepped up to join in—and circled it around in her hands a couple times before leaving. When they demanded their ball back, she bounced it hard to the ground, which bounced away from them and towards the wall, off the wall and back towards the rack it came from, rolling to a nice smooth stop where it belonged to look like a post card picture.

When they all returned to class, Mr. Merky had assigned a few worksheets for homework to the students. Uno looked at it and rolled her eyes. More word scrambles and more easy answers that she had to do. But to most the class, 200 word scrambles were torture; to Uno it was a spare time task, spare time from between training with Heero.

At 3:30, Duo's vet pulled up to the curve when Uno was just exiting the school. He stood outside the car and smiled as she stepped up to him with her braid flipping around. He hugged her.

"So, how's my little Shinimegami?"

Uno smiled, "people hate me!"

Duo sweat dropped, "Eh? Say what?"

Uno giggled. "People hate me cuz I'm better than them."

"Bye Uno!" Uno looked over to where Doug and Brittany were getting in the same slow Lexus. Uno smirked.

"You met friends, I see." Duo blinked at them. "They were picking on you the other day, weren't they?"

Uno nodded, "yeah, but I made them all look like idiots in class!" She smiled.

Duo looked down at her. "How?" He grinned while he folded his arms.

"I either spoke out confusingly so only Mr. Merky understood what I was saying, explained things they didn't know, or showed off at recess by doing a flip off the swing sets and bouncing the basket balls in ways nobody else can."

Duo sweat dropped again, "Wow…Uno…heh…um…hm. You're about to take over the school, aren't you?"

Uno giggled and hugged at her backpack. Duo scratched his head. His little Shinimegami was already taking over the school; what happens when she gets older and has a Gundam? Duo swallowed.

_Watch out Earth and Colonies, she may start a war just to show off…_

"Duo?" Uno's pondering face look up at her and startled him out of dreamland and back to reality.

"Ah, nothing. Is Mr. Merky around? I'd like to meet him."

Uno shook her head. "No, he said he had a conference today. What's a conference?"

"Another term for meeting. You know a lot of words already…I'm shocked." Duo opened the door and let her in.

"Why?"

"Just am; you went from being unable to talk to taking over schools in less than a year." Duo smirked. When he walked around the car to his side, a few of the parents of other children—women of course—gawked at him and smiled, many thinking he was probably the cutest guy they knew.

"Picking up your little sister?" A lady passing by him asked.

"Ah no, my little girl, actually." Duo replied, leaning on his vet.

"Really? You look awfully young to have a kid. How old are you?" She stood, arms folded.

"Ah…um, I'm 21."

"Wow, so you were a little naughty when you were young." She smiled at him as she walked off.

Duo swallowed and felt happy he had Hildie because the lady who was just hitting on him looked 40. He sat in the car and started the engine, blaring loud metal music out the windows and letting all the parents around them—including that lady—hear it.

Duo drove off and sped past cars towards home. He was getting very happy now that Uno was making friends—even _if_ it was through scaring the shit out of everyone.

"So, what else went on in class, today?" Duo began.

"I explained why people didn't like peace versus war."

Duo went still in voice, "Oh?"

"Mmhm. I said, you can't always talk if the other won't talk. Bullets can kill but you can't talk to a bullet."

"That's…a…a good comparison." Duo drove on home saying nothing. He was dead aware that Uno was knowing more than the average five-year-old was supposed to know, and he was slowly realizing that Uno was beyond capable of probably being able to handle the Wing Zero Gundam if she were old enough and the Gundam was still in tact. Then again, Uno _wasn't_ a normal five-year-old.


	15. New Fate Begins

Duo's Child

Chapter 15

Duo yawned as he stepped into the dining room later that day. He blinked when he saw it covered in high-dollar decorations such as table cloths, expensive charms hanging from the chandelier, and real shined silverware perfectly placed out on the table tops. The light in the room was lit up all the way, giving the walls a sparkling reflection that shouted out high-class and posh chit-chats.

"Hi Duo," smiled a perky Quatre stepping into the dining room through doors located on the wall to his left. "Everything go okay with Uno today?"

"Um…yeah. Peachy. Quatre…what's…going on?" Duo stared up at the ceiling and found, for the first time, that around the base of the gold and crystal chandelier was a marvelous sketched designed painted right on the concrete, defiantly by a pure and perfect professional. It was a classy image that he usually wouldn't see anywhere except for a picture of a million dollar mansion with either a Duke or King living there. Then Duo remembered: he's living with Quatre Raberba Winner, the richest person in all the world and colonies, in a million dollar mansion that normally wouldn't be seen anywhere except for a picture.

Duo sweat-dropped. He looked back as Quatre sorted through a few pieces of China.

"Well, Relena's coming over with speakers from various nations across the Earth for a dinner party, meeting, conventional grouping sort of thing." Quatre laid out a couple plates on the table.

"Uh huh…and they are going to use your house?"

"Oh, I'm going to be apart of it. Don't forget, my family bloodline developed Colony Cluster 4; I was supposed to be with the meetings but they really never needed me for anything yet."

"So why all of a sudden?"

"Well," shrugged Quatre, "Relena said it would be a wise decision for me to meet the representatives from the nations of the Earth. Technically, I think it would be a better start for my governmental future."

Duo looked back up at the ceiling and to the decorated paintings just around the rim of the chandelier. "And being classy was part of your front to look proper?"

"Huh?" Quatre followed his gaze up at the ceiling and smiled. "My father was always enjoying the class of artists. He had a professional paint the ceiling in shades of gold to match the chandelier. He also was known to paint a few other parts of this mansion, but I have yet to see it. Then again, since there are parts of this mansion I have yet to even find, I may never be able to see the images he's created."

Duo snapped back at Quatre. "You've lived here all your life and you never saw the entire place?!"

Quatre smirked at Duo. "I never really bothered. I'd love to explore and see what I've missed out all these years, but I don't know where the door is."

Duo sweat-dropped. "The…door?"

"That's right." Quatre nodded. "And if it's hidden, it's probably locked and I wouldn't know where to find the key."

"Quatre! You don't need a key! You're living with Heero for crying out loud, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to blow off the lock." Duo expressed.

"No Duo! I couldn't _dare_ put holes in wood that's over a century old! It would damage the antique feeling of this place _and_ lower the value of this mansion." Quatre shouted back.

"Quatre, you live in a castle for screaming out loud. What value is going to drop from it? And besides, like you said, you wouldn't know where the key is and the door at that matter. Hell, if we ever found it you can just call a locksmith."

Quatre thought about it for a while. "Or you could just pick it."

Duo grinned. "So you finally gave in to the beliefs that I still got it in me."

"No." Quatre shook his head. "I never disbelieved. I just didn't want you scratching up my house."

"Hey!" Duo growled at Quatre's giggles.

"Anyways, Duo. I'm sure my father had locked it for a good reason. Maybe there was something back there that hurt him, frightened him, or worse." Quatre thought hard.

"Maybe he tried to kill someone and locked them back there." Shrugged Duo.

"No, I'm pretty sure there's doors and windows that lead out of the mansion besides this part. But, it could have been something that caused him such dread that he wouldn't _want_ to remember for fear of being torn apart; maybe some room that had more than a bad memory in it."

"What would happen in the room?" Duo questioned.

"Perhaps someone had died in one that he doesn't ever want to be reminded of." Quatre's voice was still but unfortunately, Duo hadn't noticed.

"Who then?"

"Duo, my mother gave birth to me in her bedroom."

Uno slowly crept down the hallway that night when she heard voices. She approached from the corner of the wall where the hallway connected, remaining behind a side table with a lamp on it. She smelled coffee and tea, heard low voices that didn't sound anywhere familiar to her, and saw people she had never seen. She saw Quatre with them, but he was dressed differently than she had ever seen him before.

She was wondering what was going on, but fear of standing out held her back from entering the conversations. As she turned to return to the gym, a lady in a stunning, cream and pink colored dress crouched down besides her. She had long blond hair pulled back into a pony tail with a white bow, eyes as blue as the sky and a smile as brightening as the sun. She was beautiful to Uno and more amazing than she had ever hoped to look.

"Why hello there, little one. Who might you be?" The lady asked. Her voice had a low tone to it that hid in the shadows of her natural and dazzling voice. Her teeth were as white as pearls and her skin was an unblemished and soft ivory touch, as she took Uno's hand.

"I'm Relena Dorlian. What's your name?"

Uno stared at her, deciding to speak or ignore the lady and claim to be a mute.

"Hm?"

Damn here for being so persistent and Uno damned herself for being so hasty.

"Uno."

"Well Uno, how old are you?"

"Relena! What are you doing here?!" A startled and crackling voice made it's appearance behind the Relena. Relena rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Greetings again, Duo." She stood and faced him, then curtsied. Uno took this time to run and hide behind Duo.

"What…oh yeah. Quatre's dinner party."

Relena nodded and smiled a winning grin. "Yes, that's right. Is Uno you're daughter? I never knew Hildie had a child."

"She's not Hildie's." Duo looked down at Uno. "Uno, go play with Trowa in the gym, okay?"

"But I just had." She pouted. She knew Duo was trying to get her to leave.

"Then go play with Heero in the training room."

"Okay." Uno turned and traveled off to the training room.

Duo returned to Relena. "Be quiet, you skank. Uno doesn't know she's my biological daughter."

Relena blinked. "Did you know?"

"No. I adopted her. Her mother died in the White Fang. We…_produced_ her at the start of everything, before I met Heero, before I got in Operation Meteor." Duo explained very softly.

"Oh." Relena blinked a few times. "So you adopted her from off the streets?" Duo nodded.

"Say nothing to her about the truth. Please. I ask you, if you would just be kind and generous to me once, will you make it this moment?"

Relena smiled and curtsied. "Will do, Duo Maxwell."

Duo sighed. "And don't do that to me! I'm not high-class and snobby like the rest of ya'!" He grumbled and turned off to leave.

Relena giggled and returned to the meeting, noticing Dorothy staring and smirking at her.

When Duo was alone in the hallway, he decided to continue on and explore each and every door he came across, whether it was a guest room or closet, explore the walls everywhere, _including_ the guest room closets, and tapped on the walls for echoes. Somewhere, Quatre's father had hidden the door to the rest of the mansion away and he was determined to find it. Duo stepped up to a wall sconce and gripped at it. He was trying to pull it downward when a familiar Asian voice spoke up behind him, startling him and making him spin around.

"Are you trying to break Quatre's lights? I don't think he would be happy if you did." Wufei noted Duo's appearance of being sweaty. "What are you doing?"

"Quatre said his father hid away the door that extended the mansion to the other parts we've never seen…nor Quatre for that matter. So, I'm just trying to look for it while he's busy with his guests."

"Have you tried doors being blocked or built up or hallways behind walls? I highly doubt Master Winner would make the door to the rest of the mansion triggered by a tiny tug at a wall light."

Duo sweat-dropped. "Shut up and go away!!!"

Wufei chuckled and walked on. Duo growled.

"Stupid China-man. Thinking you know it all." Duo stood and frowned. He knew Wufei was right; why would the door be triggered when it was originally a part of the entire house? Duo cursed himself.

"Well I will find it one day while I am still alive! Mark my words, Wufei! I won't rest until that door is spotted!"

Uno stepped into the den and found Duo snoring away. She hasn't really ever been in the den before, just when she was finishing the book she read from Trowa. She slowly crept up to Duo and watched him closely. He eyes flickered from his dream, his mouth drooled of saliva, his body was sprawled out across the couch with arms and legs hanging off the back and side; now was the perfect time for her attack.

"DUO!" Screamed Uno at the top of her lung.

Duo remained motionless and continued snoring away. She frowned. He must have been doing something terribly wrong if he was out of energy; Duo's the bunny on the television, he keeps going and going and going.

She sighed and left the room for bed.

WARNING: Yes, I am making Quatre's mansion into a story on its own but it will not be for a couple chapters…I just gotta' figure out what chapters those might be. ;; But, can you guess what might be in the other side? Hehehe ::snickers:: I ain't telling…and Fal, don't you go blurting it out either!!!!!! ;; Anywho...okay…so…just so people don't get offensive, I made Quatre be using only a quarter of the entire castle he's living within. Picture it: a square, perfect on all four sides, cut up I into a cross of four pieces…color one piece: that's how much of the mansion is being used and seen by Quatre, the rest is blocked off or hidden or who knows. No one really knows how much they are missing (except for Quatre) because the living quarters they're in now are really big and they also don't think about the size of the mansion from outside to the size on the inside…and how many rooms that actually have. BUT, I will give you some hints later on. Also, the in between chapters will include when the key is described more and more and questioned to be either a real object key, machine key code, or perhaps...a voice decoding key for a machine that will only read Master Winner's voice… ::gasp:: Oh No!!! O.O;;;

HINT: They will find a library, new wings, and even a door that goes outside to the rest of the gardens and outside of the mansion that they can not get to due to high—very high—concreted walls (I'm thinking they may be covered in alive or dead roses, as to keep away spooks that might try to climb up and get attacked by vicious thorns… ::grins:: ), and even…a part of the outside that they have not even thought the mansion had…maybe including a large hedge style maze…no? ::grins::


	16. A Rest From Life

Duo's Child

Chapter 16

Uno yawned one morning as she walked down the hallway. She was tired but not sleepy, she wanted to rest from school and homework, and she needed a break from the fans at her school. True, she has been in school for a little over a month now and yes people were still picking on her, but each time was less than before because she would put them in their place. Now, they have reached what is called a teacher work day; Uno didn't care, she wanted to rest from it all.

She turned the corner and stopped when she saw that no body was in the living room; not even Duo. She blinked, knowing they had to work but didn't know when they left to do so; she was usually gone by now. She shrugged and continued to walk. As the wall let out more of the scenery, she found that Heero was sitting at the end of the couch, on his laptop.

Uno rubbed her eyes. "Hi."

Heero paused to look at her and they both stared at one another for several seconds. Heero studied her, Uno stared at him, and finally he broke the silence. Uno stretched.

"I thought you had school."

"It's a Teacher Work Day…whatever that means," shrugged Uno. "What are you doing?"

"Work."

Uno sweatdropped. "Why don't I ever see you doing it?"

"You do; you just never asked until now."

Uno sweatdropped again. "Right…I'm going to get something to eat."

Uno turned and slowly crept around the corner of the couch. Heero paused to watch her, knowing that she was fully Duo's kid. When she left the living room he returned to his laptop and jotted down a few of his thought-up notes, knowing he had to make a known remembrance of this girl.

Uno opened the fridge and instantly found a note hanging from the top shelf. She blinked slowly at it and ripped it out. It read:

_About time ya' got up. I left around seven…I have a feeling you got up at eleven. I'll be home around four today; work is rough. Don't bother Heero much…he's been hiding something from us all lately. I don't want to come home and find there's no Uno. Quatre should be home around one; Trowa went out to practice at the circus again. Hell knows where Wufei went off to._

_Be home shortly, ciao._

_Duo_

Uno blinked and looked over at the kitchen clock. Duo knew her too well, only he was a half hour early. She left the note hanging and shut the door, no longer feeling hungry. Uno rubbed her eyes and left the kitchen. She stood in the doorway and watched Heero type away on his little machine.

"What?" He asked without even looking up.

"What are you doing?"

"Working."

She was about to open her mouth when she remember Duo's warning. 'When Heero works, he works alone.' It's what Duo told her a very long time ago.

She turned to travel down the other hallway. She's trained in Heero's style for weeks. She trained with Trowa for weeks. She's done homework non-stop—darn Mr. Merky thinking she's the best, challenging her—so she figured she'd go read a book. Her teacher knew how much better she was than the rest of the class. He even told her on a day she wasn't ready to leave yet when the bell rang. He told her that he was challenging her to help her out, make her study more and more, get her to think more. She didn't care because it was beginning to make her head hurt. But something told her that he was also testing her…like he was going to do something very rough one day and wanted to prepare her for it.

Uno opened the door to the library and stepped inside. Cool air slammed against her body as the door shut itself behind her. Near the other door of the other hallway sat boxes upon boxes and some books were removed off shelves. Quatre must be reloading his shelves and selling the old books.

Uno stepped up to a box. Since she's lived with Duo, she's watched Quatre go through two times of cleaning out the library and stacking up new books. He sometimes stacked them so tightly she needed Trowa's help to get something down. Now that most the books were gone from the shelves, especially the isle shelves, she could see just how tiny the room was. It was the same size of her and Duo's bedroom, no smaller and no bigger.

Uno picked up the book she first read off the floor and placed it on the round table in the corner of the two doors. No telling if Quatre was going to get rid of it either. She wanted to keep _some _things that she's done in her life, like reading books. Uno stepped up to an empty shelf and peered up at the dust. She sneezed. Quatre needs to clean more often.

A book with a pink binding caught her eye from up above on a shelf higher than she is. The title read 'A Dream That Fades.' It was on its back, probably a book that Quatre was going to get rid of. She reached for it and barely managed to get it. Her fingers touched the side of the book and wound up pushing it back. Uno growled; she wanted that darn book!

She reached up again and stood on her toes. Her fingers couldn't grasp the shelf enough to hoist herself up so she reached in the shelf below it to the bottom of the other, wedged her fingers up through the wood and lifted the book up; all she had to do now was get the book down to her. She frowned, she hated being small and short.

Fingers crouching, Uno flung the book off her hand and to the floor near her feet. She tugged her fingers free and knelt down to pick up the book. When she stood back up, she noticed the window was wide open. She blinked and placed the book on the table on top of the other and lightly stepped over to the window. Slowly, she pulled herself up to the frame and sat on her knees, despite the pain it gave her down her legs. She looked outside the window and saw, for the first time since she was here, the scenery and things that she didn't notice before, especially the long extension of the mansion wall to her left. She knew the gymnasium and training room doors were down this same hallway, but by the look of the walls the mansion was much larger than she thought. Uno slipped off the window frame and rubbed the swelling on her knees. She reached for the opened panes of glass and pulled them together, locked the latch, and stood another second before turning around.

"What were you doing?"

Uno's heart slammed against her body and she nearly stumbled to the floor when she saw Heero behind her.

"You…scawed…me." She gapped in long breaths.

"…" Heero stared at her another moment.

"I shut the window."

"Hn." He stepped up to a shelf besides the door he emerged from and grabbed a book. Once he took what he wanted, he left the library.

Uno's heart jumped into her throat and remained there for a long time as it pounded away. She swallowed a heavy load that was stuck with her breath and forced her body to relax a little. Heero could have been some robber ready to kill her and she panicked; what would Duo say if he saw?

Uno shut her eyes and rested. She was a normal child who fled in terror at the sightings of a freak-show and what Duo wanted her to become only played her mind. She was going to get tougher on herself, especially when the look Heero gave her was an ice-cold stare of death. She stood.

She went to the table and took both her books then looked at the shelf Heero came for. It was a shelf that was packed, a shelf Quatre might not clean out for facts of Heero. All the books led to the image of war. Uno read some titles: 'WAR,' 'Bloodshed and Bullets,' 'Wings of Destruction,' 'History of Mankind." She shook her head.

"Typical Heewo." She whispered. Now Uno wasn't happy; Heero startled her and now her slurs returned. She's going to tell Duo the second she has the chance.

Through the door where boxes were piled up, she left the library towards the rooms.

Duo came home when Uno was in the bedroom taking a nap. He entered and smiled, looking at her adorable tiny figure curled up in a ball on his bed. She still slept in a cot besides his bed but he often found her at times curled up besides him. He didn't mind a bit.

Duo crept slowly through the room to the bathroom, letting the door shut before turning on the lights. He's had a rough day. Several people came in with vehicles that were broken down, cars that just wouldn't work no matter how determined the owners were on fixing it up, and people who thought they knew it all about automobiles but didn't know jack, like the guy who came in and starting talking to customers saying that corvettes had a turbo installed in it already.

Duo flushed the toilet when he was done draining his fluids and washed his hands. He needed a relaxing shower but first he needed some food. When he shut out the light of the bathroom and opened the door, he still heard the light breaths of the tiny clone on his bed. Duo stepped up to her and bent over to kiss her forehead. She was so young and so vulnerable; she didn't have a _clue_ at what her future could turn out to.

_Lucky girl._ Duo thought to himself as he exited the room.

Stepping into the living room, he stretched and let out a loud groan. Muscles flexed and bones crackled, Quatre looked over at him from his comfy spot on the couch besides Trowa. His face distorted.

"Duo, please."

"Eh?" Duo leant over and popped his back again, resting his arms as they hung. "Uno's so cute when she's sleeping."

"She's reading a new book. I was going to get rid of that one because it's so old, but she insisted upon reading it so I figured," Quatre shrugged, "I figured I'd let her keep that one along with her first."

"Okay." Duo walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Heero looked up from his meal of chicken and swallowed his bite then took another.

"Heero…what happened to my left-overs of chicken?" Duo faced him then when still.

"I don't know." Heero swallowed another bite and faced back down at the plate.

Duo growled, "bastard."

"So shoot and kill me." Heero stood and carried his plate to the sink, soaked it, then left through the garage doors. Duo blinked.

"Well, he seems to be in a pissy mood today."

Quatre laughed at a scene of his movie as an unhappy Duo stomped besides him to the love seat in the corner. Duo sat with a TV dinner on his lap and began picking at the Chinese rice and beans. His face was agitated and twistful, angry, and revengeful.

"Duo?"

"Heero ate my chicken!" Duo snatched a bite off the fork and hastily swallowed the food despite the nasty taste it gave him. "He's in some pissy mood today and it's fucking me off real badly!"

"Duo! Please, don't cuss around here. I don't want Uno to get the habit of doing so and I'm sure you wouldn't want that either."

Duo grumbled as he forced himself to take another bite. "What's his deal anyways? All I did was ask what happened to my chicken and he acted as if it were just some machine part. I mean, he told me to go ahead and shoot him to death, as if he were expecting me to say something ultimately rude back to him."

"Heero's been real busy with work lately. He just found out something important about his job that he doesn't like." Trowa remarked.

"Oh yeah? Did he tell you that or did you just figure it out on your own?" Duo looked up at him.

"No, actually he told me. He didn't quite say what it was, but whatever it was it has to be something big otherwise it wouldn't affect a guy as powerful as him."

Duo glared the food in his hands. "I'm not eating this." He stood up and stormed back into the kitchen to throw away the remains of the TV dinner.

That night, as Duo entered his room, he found Uno sprawled out upon the bed, breathing away and dripping small amounts of drool from the sides of her mouth. Duo smirked as the sight of her cheered him up a little from his bad dinner. He went to the dresser and opened it, took out his black silky pajamas and clean boxers. He shut the door and returned to the bathroom to shower.

Duo reached over the bathtub and started the water. He let it run down for a while as the warm water heated up, looked into the mirror and held up his braid. Perhaps he should cut it; Duo pictured himself with short hair then shook his head awfully hard to get the picture out of his mind. Hell no will he destroy his ancestry braided hair.

He walked back over to the tub and turn on the shower switch. Water sprayed out over the walls and floor of the tub and he shut the curtains. Sighing deeply, Duo stripped out of his t-shirt and jeans. He peeled the sweaty socks off his feet, thanking himself for already having his boots taken off the second he reached home, and slipped off his boxers. He stepped into the tub and quickly felt the sting of hot water melt away the sweat of his flesh. Heated skin moistened into hot water and dirty filth drained off his body.

Duo stared up at the ceiling as the water dribbled down his face and over his eyes. Such a tough and rough day he had. His boss finally fired Richard—thank God—but it left Duo with more work to do. Now he has to learn sales talk at the same time work on engines. How the hell is he supposed to sell cars to people when he looks like he just came out of an oil bath?

He lowered his head and shut his eyes. The water of his flesh fell past his shoulders and traveled all the way down his body, dripping and leaving trails among his flesh until it hit the gigantic puddle at the base of his feet. He exhaled and reached for the shampoo through shut eyelids. The scent of strawberries and peach aroma shot out from the bottle as he twisted the cap off. He poured a little amount of shampoo into his hair and began lathering the top of his head. He picked up his soaked braid and began working the braids, untying the knots and releasing the hair from its hold.

He poured more shampoo into his hands and began lathering all of his hair together, tying it up into a humongous mop of hair on the top of his head, letting the bubbly soap sit for a while and still the bun on top. He grabbed the liquid body soap and the lather sponge off the side shelf and soaked up his body with white shades of color. He bathed his skin, washed it thoroughly, cleansed it as well as possible, then stood under the shower as the water washed away the filthy and dirty soap spuds. The sponge dropped out of his hands and he replaced the bottle to the shelf it belonged. Duo turned around and faced the back wall of the shower as the water splashed against his skin hard, giving him the massage he needed.

Duo looked up at the ceiling once more, no longer caring about the soaped up hair mop above his eyes and stared past the concrete. He stared out into space, remembering Sister Helen and his life he once had long ago; how he missed being young and being on his own. True, he was on his own now but it didn't feel like it anymore. He wanted to marry Hildie and have a family, a house with just the two of them and Uno; that's all that ever came to mind anymore.

After the shower, Duo wound up taking his time to exit the bathroom. By the time he was fully dressed and his hair was entirely towel-dried and brushed, he had already decided on paying off his debts and starting a savings account. Duo opened the door to the bedroom and found the room just about pitch black.

_Uno must still be asleep; I'll let her stay there._ Duo strode over to the clock and set the alarm earlier so that way he could wake up the morning-grouch, Uno. His lights were already off and all he had to do was get under the covers…the spot where Uno—the soundless sleeper—was lying.


	17. New Life New Friends

Duo's Child

Chapter 17

Finally, Uno was able to go to school relaxed for the first time in several months. Duo was cheered up and entirely out of his unhappy state-of-mind. Heero was no longer a cruel sacrifice of mankind. And she, herself, had been able to go to the amusement park with Duo alone; no Quatre. And above all feelings, Hildie had bought her several more puzzles. Uno was defiantely happy.

She sat down in the classroom and watched as a few late students came in afterwards. Mr. Merky was staring at his computer and hasn't looked up. The kids in the class were chatting away, no body giving any thought to Uno, which she didn't mind a bit. Brittany shouted out loud as Doug grabbed her sides and tickled.

Mr. Merky stood up and cleared his throat. Nothing could happen today that would piss Uno off.

Until she heard him say, "You have a test today."

The classroom moaned and now Uno felt like joining in. She didn't have to take the same tests as everyone else; Mr. Merky gave her harder ones to take. Either way, Uno knew her happiness had just left her.

By the time Duo drove by to pick her up, Uno was out of it. She didn't even notice the black vet pull up besides her until she heard her name being called a couple times. Uno blinked and faced him.

"Huh? Duo?"

"Uno, what's the matter? You suddenly come down with a case of narcolepsy?"

Uno rolled her eyes and frowned. Trowa must have told him more than she thought if he now knows she understands these words. Either that or Mr. Merky called him.

Uno opened the door to the vet and sat in the passenger's seat, and relaxed into the chair. She shut her eyes and let out a long, hard breath. Duo revved the vet to tell the people in front of him to scoot up so he could get by.

"Long day?" Duo asked, calmly. "Shut the door so we can go."

"I'm tired. And don't go anywhere yet, I'm waiting for somebody." Uno looked back at the school to see a familiar person with shoulder-short brown hair pulled back into a pony-tail, whipping around as the person walked.

"Who?"

"A friend. She's in my class and needs a ride home. Is that okay?" Uno faced him.

Duo shrugged, "sure."

"Hey Uno."

Duo looked at the girl as Uno stood up besides her. She looked a little like Uno, minus the muscular body and green eyes. She held books in her arms with a heavy backpack on her shoulders.

"Duo, this is Theresa." Uno introduced the two as she moved the seat forward so her friend could get behind her.

"Hello. I heard you two met in class." Duo began, watching as Theresa scooted herself into the car. Uno sat down after the seat was fixed and shut the door. The car purred like a cat as Duo pulled it into gear and sped away.

After a few moments, Theresa replied. "Yeah. We weren't really friends at the start but the class doesn't like the two of us."

"Oh really? How come?" Duo asked, peering around his shoulder to cut off somebody on the road.

"Because we're the two smartest people in the class." Uno answered for her friend. Duo laughed.

"That's always a good thing. I never had the chance to go to school—even if I wanted to, that is. I was practically too busy in my entire childhood."

"With what?" Uno shut her eyes and relaxed a bit as Duo and her friend shared a conversation together.

"Um…fighting. I was part of a street gang in my youth." Duo hid the truth from the little girl enough to not let her know the entire factor behind his past. He _was_ in a street gang but it didn't include fighting; that was part of the operations.

About a few minutes later, Duo crept the corvette into a wide driveway on an estate lot just five minutes out of town. Duo pondered about the location as he watched Uno step outside and allow her friend access.

"Say…um…Theresa?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know you live about a minute or two from us?" Duo faced her.

"Oh…cool." Theresa smiled.

"Yeah…um…I can pick you up for next weekend. We have a surprise for Uno and you welcomed to join."

Uno blinked now that she heard her name. "What?"

"Oh, thanks! I'll ask my mom about it but I'm sure she won't mind. Bye!" Theresa waved her friend off and ran into her house. Duo backed out of the estate lot and drove on towards the mansion.

Uno faced him, "what's going on."

Duo grinned, "What's today?"

"Monday—what's going on?"

Duo laughed. "This Saturday is Halloween, Uno! You're birthday!" Duo drove on as Uno stared at him with blank and expressionless eyes.

"Oh come on, Uno. You're going to be 6-years-old now! Cheer up, girl. You can invite ANYONE you want, anyone you wish to join your party that we're throwing you. I mean, you know Quatre; you're his favorite!"

Uno sighed, "okay."

"Look at it this way, I'm allowing you to have a great vacation before winter." By now, Duo's voice became still and serious.

"What happens during winter?"

Duo really didn't like the idea of what was going to happen during winter that year, but he had no choice; she threatened him to have it happen whether he liked it or not. And Duo knew, if he didn't like it she'd open her mouth to Uno about the truth.

"Relena's wanting you to stay with her for a week."

Uno walked into class the next day and shoved a card into Claryce's hands.

"What's this?" Claryce asked, looking at it.

"You're invited to my birthday part this Saturday."

"Oh…cool…at your mansion-I mean house?"

Uno ignored her question and handed Brittany, Cindy, Sarah, and Jessica an invitation. She stepped up to Theresa and handed Theresa a card as well.

"Except Duo will probably pick you up." Uno told her friend.

"Thanks." Theresa smiled up at Uno.

"Hey, what about us?!" Doug exclaimed.

"What about you?" Uno sat down at her desk and didn't look at Doug.

Mr. Merky was too busy watching the scene and keeping a straight face at the parts that were a little bit amusing to him.

"Why don't we get one?" Corey asked.

"Why should you?" Uno replied, still not looking at either one of them.

"That's enough." Mr. Merky stood up. "Okay, open your English books to page fourty-five and begin reading outloud the first couple paragraphs in the order of seats."

All of the class except for Uno and Theresa groaned; they had different objectives.

Later that day, Uno and Theresa had decided to go to the playground and battle against one another. First, they would decide who could swing the highest, play ball the best, run the most, and go through the obstacle course the fastest; Uno was winning but as soon as they both reached the obstacle course, Uno had the upper hand better than she thought. Heero's training had defiantly paid off.

Uno and Theresa rested upon the swing sets and softly swung back and forth, calming their bodies. Uno didn't really have to bother with the air, but she felt it was best not to let Theresa know that. Theresa stayed on Uno's right side and watched as she relaxed from the competition; only a few minutes of recess was left.

"So…how can you do so much and so easily?" Theresa faced Uno.

Uno looked down as her feet has scraped some dirt around.

"I dunno. Just good, I guess." Uno, as silent as possible, kept quiet.

"Yeah! You loser! You stink!" Kids laughed and joked and Uno and Theresa both looked up to see a lonely boy walking to the swing on Uno's left side, his head held down and his face showing an unhappy expression.

"Yeah, go sit with the rest of the losers! Ya' loser!" Kids laughed again as they pointed towards Uno and Theresa. Theresa snapped her face up at the kids with a glare. Uno watches, solemnly, as the poor boy slowly sat down on the swing besides her and held his head down.

He sniffled a little and Uno blinked.

"What happened?"

He sniffled again and didn't respond to Uno's question.

"…What's your name?"

The boy, as softly as possible to where Uno just barely heard him, replied, "Ricky."

Uno smiled a little bit.

"I'm Uno."

Ricky never looked up and Uno felt a little pity for him. His brown hair covered his eyes but Uno knew he was crying. As he lifted his hands to hang them from the chains of the swing, Uno noticed a bruise on his right wrist.

"Why do you have that bruise?"

Ricky looked to his wrist and sniffled again.

"My dad hit me."

"Why would he do something like that?" Theresa could just barely see Ricky around Uno but heard what she needed to know.

"I don't know."

Uno returned to glance at the other kids who made fun of Ricky. She glared a few of them in return for they still treat her quite as badly. Theresa on the other hand, wasn't one to get picked up; she just got talked about.

"Why are they being mean to you?" Uno looked back to Ricky.

Ricky shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe 'cuz I'm new?"

The bell rang for the kids to get inline and return to class and Uno and Theresa both stood up. Uno looked down at Ricky who obviously hadn't even made a thought of moving.

"I have to go to class now. I'll see you later, Ricky!" Uno waved at him and ran off with Theresa.

Ricky glanced up at her and watched her run off. He managed a tiny smile as his 'so-called' new-and-only-friend ran off with her friend.

"By Uno." He whispered, more to himself than anybody. He stood and began shuffling his feet towards the line of his class.

That afternoon when Uno and Theresa were waiting out front for the famous vet to arrive, Ricky stepped up besides Uno and smiled at her. Uno looked over and smiled when she saw who it was. She also saw his stained cheeks where he had tears strolling down his face.

"Thanks Uno." Ricky began.

Uno blinked. "For what?"

"You were the first person to be nice to me today."

Uno smiled in return. "Well, they were mean to me too. You have to shut them up somehow, just find the way that works."

"That doesn't always work…" Theresa grumbled.

"It does if you _had_ anything to shut them up with." Uno glared Theresa and Theresa faced Uno with a blank stare. Suddenly, both girls busted out giggling.

"So…" Uno began, shutting up a few of her giggles, "Who you waiting for?"

"My dad." Ricky looked around the streets, waiting for his ride as other people piled up in their cars with their parents.

"What's his car look like?" Uno looked around for the black vet.

"It's a Hummer."

"…" Uno stayed quiet; she didn't know that car.

"My dad got it for his new job…he's helping these other people start some new program. I don't know what it is; I was told to not worry about it, so I don't." Ricky shrugged and glanced around at some brown cars passing by. "His number-plate says 'O-N-E-A-W-Z."

"You mean that one?" Uno pointed to a green truck-looking-car as it pulled up to the curb. "It looks like it says 'one-way."

A horn honked and Uno looked behind the car to Duo's vet. She shoved Theresa towards the car and turned back to Ricky, noticing he was already halfway into his car.

"Bye!" Uno waved and got into the car.

"Hey Uno; another new friend?" Duo asked as he looked at the license plate of the Hummer in front of him.

"Some new kid who people were teasing; she was nice to him." Theresa buckled up her seat belt and Uno shut the door.

"'One-A-Wz?' Hm…odd name." When the Hummer drove off, Duo managed to do the same. "Well, so who's your new friend?"

"His name's Ricky. I'm thinking of asking him to my party this weekend." Uno looked up and over to Duo with pleading eyes.

"Hm...we'll see. We'll ask Quatre and Heero if it's alright with them."

"Why Heero?" Uno blinked.

"Because…unlike me…he's able to watch over things more easier."


	18. Preparing For Hell on Earth

Duo's Child

Chapter 18

Three days remained until Uno would be six-years-old. She and Theresa walked into class prepared to make fun of the people around them when Uno froze in spot, noticing the classroom was empty. She blinked and Theresa looked around.

"Maybe we're early?" Theresa asked, glancing out into the hallway.

"No…Duo got us here in the time he always gets me here." Uno walked to her desk and put her things on it. As soon as she dropped her backpack onto the ground, Doug stepped into the room. Uno sighed.

"Hey Uno," Brittany stepped in with everyone else, "What do you want for your birthday?"

"Um…I dunno. What is there?" Uno blinked and looked up at Brittany and Claryce.

"What?! You don't know what you want?!" Claryce exclaimed.

Uno blinked. "Um…no. I already get what I want."

"Well…would you want any dolls? There's a new doll out called 'Polly Molly.' She's so cool looking; I already have one. You want one?" Jessica asked.

"…" Uno stared at her and didn't make a move.

"Unlike you, we don't play with dolls." Theresa answered for Uno. Jessica glared over to Theresa.

"Was I talking to you?"

"Luckily not." Theresa ignored the facial glance of Jessica and wrote her heading on a piece of paper for the class.

"Do what you want, but I won't play with it." Uno said, doing the same as Theresa. Jessica glanced over at her.

"And why not? Any _normal_ seven-year-old plays with dolls!" Brittany turned around and smirked at Uno.

Uno stopped writing and snapped her eyes up at Brittany's, glaring at the same time. She hadn't noticed Mr. Merky writing something on the board, paying attention to the conversation.

"I'm not seven-years-old; I'm six."

Theresa smirked and began numbering her paper. Uno did the same. Corey looked over at Uno, a loud as a mouth he has.

"You're what?! How are in first grade then?" Corey wondered. By now, Mr. Merky had turned around to pay more attention to this.

"Because I'm smarter than you. I skipped Kindergarten and I had the choice to go into second grade." Uno relaxed in her seat, looking around at the people watching.

Theresa looked up at Mr. Merky as he was watching Uno.

"Then why didn't you go into second?" Sarah questioned.

"Because I didn't want to!" Uno snapped at everyone, shouting and getting very annoyed. "Shut up, already!"

Theresa looked away, her eyes huge at Uno's outburst. Uno didn't want to invite anyone over except for her two friends, but Quatre insisted upon it. Uno sighed as Mr. Merky cleared his throat.

"That's enough class. Leave her alone."

"She said to 'shut up!' She should get in trouble for it!" Jessica yelled out.

"You all should be the ones in trouble; stop antagonizing her and she won't yell at you."

Mr. Merky had the class stumped.

"Mr. Merky?"

"Yes Brittany?"

"What's antagonizing mean?"

"It means to stop edging me to attack you with any form I chose." Uno replied for her teacher.

Mr. Merky nodded, "Uno. Calm it down some."

The class grinned and smirked at one another. Uno slouched in her chair; now she hated her teacher for making her feel like a fool.

When lunch time came around, Uno and Theresa were sitting besides each other, chatting away as usual. A shadow covered Uno and she looked up to see blue eyes and brown hair. She smiled.

"Hey Ricky!"

Ricky sat down and smiled at her.

"Thanks."

"Here." Theresa dropped a pickle onto his tray of school food.

Ricky blinked, "what's this for?"

"I don't like pickles. They're nasty and sour and too juicy." Theresa looked at him.

Ricky shrugged, "I eat whatever. I'm always hungry."

Uno giggled.

"So," Uno sighed, "what grade are you in?"

"Third."

Both Uno and Theresa nearly choked on their food. Uno was drinking milk and nearly spit that out as well. They shot glances to his direction. Ricky still ate as if he hasn't said anything shocking.

"Third grade! How old are you?!" Theresa shouted.

Still facing his food, Ricky replied calmly, "nine." He looked up to Uno and Theresa. "Why?"

"No…reason at…um…at all." Uno stuttered. "Say Ricky…would you want to come over for my birthday party, this Saturday?"

Ricky looked up.

"On Halloween?"

Uno nodded. "I'll be six-years-old."

He began drinking chocolate milk and choked the gulp down. "Six!"

Uno and Theresa giggled.

"I'm only in first grade."

Ricky blinked but then smiled.

"I'm sure my dad won't mind. Where do you live?"

"In a mansion outside of town. About a few minutes from Theresa's, actually."

"But…you mean you live in that big castle-mansion? Winner Mansion?" Uno nodded. "Wow, Uno! Your dad owns this school!"

"Well, Quatre owns the school. I don't have a dad."

"Who's that guy who picks you up then?" Theresa asked.

"Duo. He's my guardian. He adopted me."

"You look just like him. Are you sure he didn't re-adopt you? My mom said that her sister gave her son up for adoption and then re-claimed him a few months later." Theresa began eating her brownie.

Uno shrugged a reply, "Oh well."

"I'll ask my dad if I can go. He may not be happy because it's Halloween. But then again, he makes my brother take me out."

"How old is your brother?"

"Sixteen. He's kind of mean when he's around his friends. I don't like him anymore, but he lets me do whatever I want as long as I don't tell my dad certain things."

"Oh yeah? What kind of things?" Theresa asked.

"He's not allowed to have anyone over when Dad's not home, but he's had three girls come over almost every Friday when Dad has to work late. I don't know what they do; he lets me play on his PS2 while they go into his room." Ricky stood up. "Be right back."

Uno watched Ricky walk over and throw his food tray away then return to the chair. He looked a little like Heero, but without the death-pleading or cold-hearted eyes. He could manage to look like Heero exactly if he walked around without an expression on his face and glared everyone.

"You remind me of Heero." Uno said when Ricky sat back down.

"Who's he?" Ricky pondered.

"Heero? He lives with us, too. He's kind of rude if you meet him at most times…I actually was able to get him to smile at me once; but it was a very rare thing Quatre said." Uno finished up her milk then spotted her class forming the line at the doors. "Well, Ricky. Find out if you can; Theresa and I gotta' go to class now."

"Okay. Byebye."

"Duo, promise me you won't wreck the house this Saturday, please!" Quatre begged. He had both hands locked together at his chest.

"I promise you, Q'man! Come on, you can trust me!" Duo grinned. "Besides, Heero'll still be here! And Wufei, and Trowa!"

"I'm going with Quatre, Duo." Trowa stepped up to the two.

"And Wufei's going out of town with Sally for another meeting in another country." Quatre added in.

Duo sweat-dropped. "Well…Heero'll still be here! I mean, trust me for a change!"

Quatre eyed Duo for a very long time directly after that trust factor was made. Trowa stared at him. Duo worried.

"What?!" Duo shouted, arms flailing about.

Quatre sighed. "Very well, Duo. So be it, then. I do trust you, just as long as Heero is with you."

Dup grumbled. "As long as Heero's with me."

Quatre and Trowa returned to the living room. Duo flicked the two off, grumbling curses at each one. He turned around to see the tiny clony below him. He froze.

"Um…heh…hi Uno!" Duo panicked, hoping she didn't see him do that.

"…" Uno stared at him. She shook her head and went around to Quatre.

"Cat-wa?" Uno looked at him with puppy dog eyes and her cute child attitude. Heero—who was sitting on the chair in the corner with the laptop on his knees—froze in motion at her beginning. Duo slowly turned around to watch, shocked and amazed at what she was doing.

Quatre's heart sank. "Yes, Uno?"

Uno smiled up at him, hands locked together behind her back. She twisted her body from side to side, giggling.

"Can I ask my friend Ricky to come over Saturday?" Uno pouted up at Quatre.

Quatre smiled. "As long as his parents are alright with it. How old is he?"

"Nine. He's in the third grade. I met in at recess. People were picking on him and he said I was his first friend. He's new too. Just like me and Theresa." Uno flashed her big puppy dog eyes at Quatre and Quatre fell for the trick.

"Okay, Uno. He can spend the night with all your other friends, as well."

"Yay!" Uno smiled and reached to give Quatre a hug. She pecked his cheek while hugging him.

"Than-que!" Uno turned and ran off to the bedroom, passing a very silenced Duo on the way.

"I can't believe you fell for that, Quatre." Duo mumbled, staring into Quatre's eyes. "She totally tricked you into letting a boy stay the night with a bunch of girls. A boy who's near the age of puberty compared to everyone else here."

Heero blinked a few times before it actually registered completely in his mind. "You hit puberty at eleven?"

"Eight actually. Street gangs are more than just competition of survival; to win ya' gotta' cheat." Duo shrugged grinningly.

Heero shook his head and continued typing away. The last thing he needed was knowledge of Duo's sexual relationships at such the early age he was; especially when his first make was with another guy. Heero, however, was lucky; he didn't get involved with a girl until the annoyance from the word of peace stalked him. To think, somebody actually had guts to stalk an assassin, to stalk the stalker, to follow a spy; somebody who was made secretive and knew even how he—

Heero shook his head and cleared his thoughts once again. Returning to his work, he continued typing.

"Besides Duo, this boy may not be bad. And Heero will be with you." Trowa commented.

"Yeah but…ughn…" Duo groaned and turned to leave. He planned to spend half the night with Hildie alone, but now it looks like he'll be spending it alone with Heero and a bunch of kids—correction, Heero and Uno and a bunch of kids; Uno wasn't normal.

The following day, while Uno was away at school, Duo was in the party store searching for goods. He came into the isle of balloons and stopped. Uno would probably pop all the balloons. He went to the toy isle for party favors and shook his head. Uno would most likely throw them all away. He stepped into the costume isle and froze with a grin on his face. Her party will defiantly be a party even if he has to do it himself.

"Duo."

Duo jumped and screamed, spun on his heels, and glared at Heero.

"Don't scare me like that!"

Heero just stood there and stared at him.

"And stop that!" Duo exclaimed, hitting Heero on the shoulder.

Heero looked to his shoulder where Duo had struck him, then back to face Duo. Duo sighed.

"What?"

"Here." Heero handed Duo a big bag of black party favors.

"What's this?"

"'Over The Hill' party favors. I found one that doesn't have 'Over The Hill' written on it." Duo looked at it, thankful Heero knew what to find.

"Thanks." He looked back to the isle. "Say Heero?"

"Hn?"

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Duo grinned, looking straight down the isle to either side.

Heero followed his gaze to the items and slowly grinned as well.

"Duo, you're evil." Heero grinned.

"The Reaper's gotta' have his share of Hell-on-Earth, don't he?"


	19. Bullets and Icing

_**NOTE TO READERS:** Hey peoples…don't forget just how many days are passing in this story! I've had some people ask me wondering how exactly Uno is capable of learning to speak and all this other stuff so quickly. Remember, this is taking place over a span of months, not days. By now she's been with them for about two months now…give or take a few. You may see a lot of jumping dates though…I have ideas but how can I put a child's life into a story without traveling day-by-day?_

Duo's Child

Chapter 18

Uno was peacefully sleeping early morning. Nothing bothered her, Duo had obviously left her alone, and she was off in the destructive dream world her pals had trained her in. Everything was perfect.

Until a gunshot went off and caused her eyes to snap open. On instinct, she reached for the gun underneath Duo's mattress and cocked it. Scanning the room, she crawled off the bed and slowly made her ways towards the bedroom door. Quietly reaching for the knob, berretta aimed up to the ceiling, she was just about to grasp and turn when the door sprang open.

Without thought, Uno shoved the gun in front of her and aimed up at—

—Duo's smiling face which soon turned into wide eyes at seeing the barrel of his gun pointed right at his nose.

"Uno?" Duo blinked, wondering why she had his gun. "Calm down."

"I heard a shot."

Duo lifted his hands up into the air as Uno lowered the gun. He took the gun from her hands and unclipped the magazine.

"It's okay. Heero accidentally shot a hole through the wall; nothing big. Nothing to worry about." Duo stepped into the room and put the gun back under the mattress.

"I was acting on instinct. I heard a shot; figured." Uno turned to face him.

Duo stood up. "Good. You're getting better." He started back towards the hallway. "I was coming in here to wake you up anyways. It's four o'clock in the afternoon."

"!!!" Uno's eyes shot wide. "Are you serious!" Her mouth dropped.

"Yep," Duo grinning and leant on hands resting on his hips. "Happy Birthday my little ghoulish clone." Duo hugged Uno. He figured to let her sleep in since it was her birthday and he and Heero already hung the decorations up.

Uno was about to follow Duo downstairs when she stopped dead in her tracks. Duo spun around, questionable at her actions.

"Heero _shot_ a hole in the wall?"

As the hours went by, Uno was drastically thinking of ideas to blow her own party out of proportion. Unfortunately, each time Heero would get in the way. She though of poisoning the cake, but Heero caught her just as she was opening the vile of powder. He glared at her for stealing something of his just like Duo; now he'll have to watch his back for two thieves. She's tried to send emails to each person saying that the party was canceled, but she didn't know everyone's email address and had to suddenly hide under a desk for three hours while Duo stepped inside the office to send out emails of his own. Once, she even tried to lock herself in the weapon storage closet but she also forgot that Heero practically lived in the room.

She was sitting on the couch in the living room dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt with 'death?' written on it in bold red letters, contemplating what else she could do to spice the party, when Duo stepped into the room. He stood there with his arms set upon his waist, staring and grinning at her like an enemy. Uno slowly looked up and blinked at him.

"What?" she asked.

Duo continued to grin and stepped up to her. "Come on, get up. We gotta' go pick up Theresa."

Uno grumbled and slid off the couch.

"How's Ricky going to come here?" Duo wrapped his arms around Uno's waist and lifted her up off the ground. Carrying her down the hallway, Uno hugged Duo and leant on his shoulder.

"Shorty." Duo smirked and looked at her through the corner of his eyes.

Uno glared him. "Hush. I gave him directions. He said his dad's dropping him off."

"Great. I want to meet this guy; his license plate's got me thinkin'."

"Of what?" Uno pondered.

"Oh…very old business. The letters seem to be the scrambled version of something I remember."

Duo stepped outside and shut the door behind him. He then turned and started back towards the vet.

"Man, I haven't carried you in so long…I feel like I've been depriving you of something."

Duo set Uno down on the ground and opened the door for her. Uno got in the car grumbling, while Duo shut the door and walked around to his side. When he sat down, Uno glanced at him.

"Are you going to want to meet everyone's parents?" Uno grinned.

Duo nodded, "yes. Why?"

Without a reply, Uno sat back in her seat and smirked while looking out the windshield. Duo was soon going to find out just why she didn't want to have a party.

A knock on the front door startled Theresa while she was brushing her hair. Dropping the brush onto her dresser, she stood up from the dresser seat and ran over to her window that was directly on top of the front door. Instantly smiling, she saw Uno and her guardian. Spinning around, Theresa scanned her room for Uno's gift—finding it on the shelf besides her bedroom door—and looking again for her jacket.

Duo gawked up at the huge white mansion before him then suddenly whistled. He and Uno were stepping up to the front door. Uno rolled her eyes.

"Damn…what do her parents do for a living?"

Uno shrugged. "I don't know. We live in a mansion as well."

Duo nodded, "true. And one that's bigger, but this is huge on its own and Quatre has roommates."

The front door opened to a smiling brunet, brown eyed lady in a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. Uno smiled at the lady. Duo—though secretive as he is—glanced at the woman's figure. He smirked at her slender body in tight fitting clothes.

"Hi! You must be Uno!" The lady allowed Uno and Duo in. "Theresa's upstairs on the second door to the right. Go ahead up."

"Alright." Uno smiled and began jogging up the stairs.

Duo glanced around at the vast open area. The front living room was formally designed and continued on openly to the dinning room, kitchen, and living quarters. Cabinets squared off the kitchen at large odd angels. White fluffy carpet and glossy white walls shined the suns reflection. Duo whistled.

"Nice house." He looked back at Theresa's mother, feeling like lint on a fabulous fur coat.

"Thank you. Theresa's father—Billy—is an architect. He designed this building with my help about seven years ago and built it."

"That's great."

"Hi, I'm Lori." Lori took Duo's hand and shook it.

"Duo. I'm Uno's Guardian."

"Oh? She was adopted?"

"Yeah. I fell in love with her when I first saw her." Duo smirked. "The little devils just about as wild as I was when I was her age."

"Oh! That's great. Well, I'm glad that you two have gotten along so well. Theresa tells me that you live in Winner Mansion."

Duo nodded. "That's correct. I just began working at Citywide Specialists so, I haven't yet had a chance to pay rent."

"Oh! You're so a roommate?"

Duo nodded. "Eventually, my girlfriend and I will marry and it'll be just the three of us living in a little house. But right now, I think it's a good thing I'm staying with my friends because it's a hard thing to control Uno but it's also good for me so I don't have to hire a babysitter while I go to work."

"Oh well, any time you need to drop her off you feel free. Theresa won't stop talking about Uno; they're just perfect friends."

Duo smirked and nodded. "Yeah. She's one of the few friends I think Uno's got. She didn't make a whole lot of friends on the first day."

Lori nodded and looked down. "Yeah, Theresa had pretty much the same problem. We kept her home and schooled her here, but Billy and I agreed that she needed to grow up in the world as a normal child so we're keeping a close eye on her grades, but she knows what's right and wrong for herself. I warn you, however. Since Theresa said Uno's having pretty much the entire class spend the night, be forewarned about some of the parents."

Duo blinked. "Why?"

"Well…a few of the kids seem to be a little…how should I put it…stuck up. Kinda' makes you wonder how the parents are as well." Lori paused. "Truthfully, I'm from a colony myself. Cluster L3, really. When I came here I met Billy and we hit it off from the start."

"Colony L3! No way! I'm from L2, and my friends are from the others. Trowa's from L3. You may have seen him if you've ever gone to the circus; he's the lion tamer."

Lori smiled, "really! That's wonderful."

"Hi there." Duo looked behind Lori to a man who was clad in blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. Duo held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Duo, Uno's Guardian."

"Billy, Theresa's father." Billy put his arm around Lori. "I heard your little girl's turning six. That's great."

"Yeah, young for her grade but we schooled her at home to catch her up. She wasn't really…_fit_…for education when we got her."

"That's the problem with kids these days; they don't want to study. Instead, they just want to have it done for them and expect to get smart over night."

"Amen to that." Duo agreed. He has to see people like that all the time at his job.

"Your wife tells me you're an architect."

Billy nodded, "sure am. Built this house all on my own. About four years after we married, I showed Lori the plans and she modified a little of it. A couple years later I bought the land and began building. Come on, I'll show you around!"

Lori nodded goodbye to Duo as Billy wrapped his arm around Duo and walked him around the first floor. Each room was wide and bright with light. Duo not only was happy he lived in darkness, but was also wondering how much income the two of them made to keep the house up and running.

"So Duo, what do you do?"

"Well, I just recently began working for Citywide Specialists."

"I thought they closed." Billy asked.

"They did…but…Jenkins' still has the company opened for emergency cases. There are still a few people who ignore the signs and come in. Either or, he doesn't want us turning customers away. Heh, I guess you could say, he's always looking for visitors."

"So," Billy leant against the bar in the piano room. "You work on cars?"

Duo nodded, "that's right."

"Would ya' mind checking out something of mine then? I know how to change some things but there's a loud hum in my car that I can't figure out what's causing it."

"Sure. I haven't had a mishap yet and I've been working with automobiles for about…about ten years now."

"Really? My, you are a true bred machine."

Uno and Theresa ran downstairs about an hour later and stopped to breath in the foyer. Uno stood firm and normal while Theresa bent over to breath.

"Dang Uno…how do you do so much and run so much and not get tired?"

Uno shrugged. "Just better than you, I guess."

Theresa glared Uno then both girls started laughing. Uno refused to tell her friend about the trainings she's endured. Uno glanced around and saw Duo stepping up to them with Theresa's father, wiping oil from his hands with a towel.

"So that's all it was, eh?" Billy asked, folding his arms and looked at Duo.

"Yep." Duo wiped the oil off and handed Billy the towel. "You can still drive it, just not that much. Just bring the car by the lot Monday and I'll check it out for you. If it's anything else, I'll change it and fix it back up. Just ask for Duo."

"Well I thank you." Billy shook Duo's hand. "And take care tonight; some of the kids can get a little…vicious."

Duo grinned. "You haven't seen Uno."

Uno and Theresa were playing a video game when the doorbell rang. Neither one of them made a look of moving. Strangely enough, Heero stepped up to the door and opened it.

"Hi!"

"…"

Heero stared into the blue eyes of a blonde woman and instantly thought it was Relena. Luckily, it was a parent with one of the girls for Uno's party.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer, Claryce's mother. Are you Duo?"

Heero shook his head and backed out of the way so Duo could take over the conversation.

"I'm Duo." Duo shook the ladie's hand. "Hi, sorry…my friend's a mute."

Heero turned and glared at Duo.

"Oh! Well…" the lady's smile still shown even after she laughed a few fake times. "I hope Claryce doesn't make a lot of trouble. I'm sorry I can't stay and talk with you, I'm sorta' in a rush. Her older brother is arriving at the space sport in a few minutes and I have to go pick him up."

"Oh okay! Well, she's safe over here."

"Thanks! Bubbye!"

Duo looked down at the blonde and shut the door. She looked up at him with silent blue eyes, much like her mother's but not at all noisy like her. He smiled.

"I'm Duo. Want me to take your things?"

"Okay." Claryce handed Duo her bag.

"Just leave the present on the table over there. Uno and Theresa are straight ahead in the living room."

Claryce nodded and started walking away. Duo headed upstairs into another room that he was going to give Uno.

_Well…she'll probably take one of these rooms eventually so why not let her have it now. Hell, I know I'll be taking one soon._

As Duo reached another door and opened it to an empty room, he stood there grinning in thought at an idea he held. Moments later, the doorbell rang. He dropped the bag on the bed and ran out the door. When he got to the balcony overlooking the front door and bottom hallway, his eyes enlarged with shock.

"Hi." Heero greeted the male with black hair and black-looking eyes.

"You Duo?" The man looked at Heero's appearance.

"No, Duo's upstairs and can't come to the door at the moment. I'm Heero." Heero nodded at the man.

"Oh well, if Jessica's any problem just lock her up in the bathroom or something. Feeding her only gives her fuel."

Jessica glared up at her father then back to Heero. Heero moved out of the way and let her in. He nodded at her father then shut the door.

"Put your present on the table down there; Uno and her friends are down there already. I'll take your things."

"Okay." The short girl with long black hair and yellow-brown contact eyes handed Duo her backpack and headed towards the party.

"My, my, my, Heero." Duo watched Heero step up the stairs and hand Duo the bag. "I didn't think you could talk."

"Thoughts coming from you; I'm so shocked." Heero turned his back to Duo and started back downstairs.

Duo stood shocked with his hand to his chest. "And he uses such sarcasm! What fright!"

Just as soon as Heero landed on the first floor, the bell rang again. Opening the door, he saw a red haired woman with a package in arms. Her uniform was tight on her body and shown all the curves a man would want in a woman. Heero blinked at her.

"Heero Yuy?" The voice rang out like an engine purring to life.

Heero nodded, accepting the package and signing the form. He knew exactly _what_ was in here too. He smiled at the lady.

"Thank you." Heero stated with as much appreciation as he could. She nodded and turned to leave.

"Holy crap! You smiled! You actually smiled!!!" Duo shouted at the top of his lungs.

Heero shut the door and looked down at the package. He then grinned up at Duo.

"Happy Halloween, Duo."

Duo's eyes were huge. "Oh dear Lord, I think I'm going to die of shock."

Heero was just about to open the package when the door knocked. He blinked up at Duo.

"What time did you tell?"

"About four. I know, they're actually coming here on time. Amazing…just about as amazing as it is of you smiling.

Heero placed the package on a shelf besides him while he opened the door. Another woman with red hair stood behind a little girl who had dirty blonde hair. Both of them looked up at him.

"Duo?"

"I am, up here." Duo waved at the lady.

Heero remained quiet, her snobbish tone told him everything.

"Isn't the father supposed to be the one opening the door if there isn't a wife to do it for him?" The lady sneered from Duo to Heero.

_Dear God, don't let Heero have a sense of humor like me! I don't need this lady to think Uno's guardian is gay!!!_

"Well, my daughter Brittney is here for her little friends birthday slumber party. I'll return tomorrow to pick her up." The woman's snobbish tone radiated off of her, past Heero, until Duo could feel it and shiver from its touch upstairs.

"Hm," the woman smirked. "Well…good luck."

She checked out Heero with a smirk of a stuck-up attitude then turned to leave. Heero shut the door and looked down at Brittney.

"Who are you?"

"Heero."

"Where's Duo?"

"Right here." Duo stood now only three steps from the bottom and reached out for her bag. "I'll take your bag. Just drop off your present to Uno down there on the shelf and join their party."

"Fine." Brittney rolled her eyes, handed Duo her bag, and started walking down the hallway.

Duo glared the little girl. Heero picked up his package and began opening it.

"I do hope the rest of the people are not going to be as stuck up and snobbish like that." Duo sighed and looked at Heero. "What ya' buy?" As nosy and picky as Duo is, he tried to peer inside the package.

"A Colt Python." Duo sweat-dropped and Heero looked at him. "I needed another one."

"What happened to the one you had all these years?"

"I'm giving it to Uno later on. She's deserved it."

Duo grumbled. "Better watch it, Heero. She'll put a hole in the wall just like you had. Even now as you look at it…" Duo pointed out the miscolored paint job on the wall above a side hallway table and a vase of fake silk roses and below a large fantasy-rainbow picture. "We'll end up having two of them."

"It'll dry. Give it time."

Duo grumbled and started upstairs once again. Heero walked off to the training room, watching how quiet the new-comers were around Uno and Theresa's video game competition.

Uno and Theresa were close on the end count when finally Uno started trying and finished quickly. Theresa stared at the screen, her mouth ajar and eyes wide at how fast Uno was able to beat her. She's never played the game before, but still she gave Uno a good challenge. Heck, she's never even heard of _Oz and War Handlers_ before for a PS2.

"Uno…where did you buy this game?"

Uno shrugged and shut down the system. "I don't know where Duo got it."

"My older brother can program things; maybe he had somebody make it for him." Claryce explained, ignoring the looks Brittney and Jessica gave her.

Uno shrugged off the thoughts. She never even knew Duo had a space-flight simulator game that can only be played through first-person-view, but either or, Uno won yet again. Uno sat with her back to the television and faced her 'friends'. She was about to say something to lighten up the mood when the doorbell rang. Sending a prayer and rolling her eyes, Uno sprang up from her seat and ran down the hallway.

She opened to door to see Sarah in her face. The both of them blinked at each other then Uno looked up to her mother.

"Hi. Let me guess, you're Uno! Right?" Uno nodded at the lady. "Well I'm Sarah's mom—um, is your Daddy home?"

Uno looked down the hallway as Duo stepped up to them. Sarah stepped inside and Uno signaled her upstairs.

"You're mother's scary." Uno stated when they were halfway up the staircase.

"I know…she frightens me as well." Sarah followed Uno into the room and put her bag down. "Wow! Big room, Uno!"

Uno looked at it and at the posters Duo obviously had hung up earlier when she was downstairs. She rolled her eyes and turned to face Sarah.

"My new room."

"Where's your old one?"

"You don't need to know." Uno left the room.

"Wow." Saeah gawked up at the professionally painted ceiling and all the gold trim along the corners of the walls, the dark grey paint job, and the sky-blue carpet. She spun around and followed Uno downstairs.

Duo looked at the two of them, leaning on the closed door. "So."

"What?" Uno asked.

"How many left to go?"

Uno looked at Sarah and thought. "Just Ricky."

"You invited _him_?!" Sarah went shocked.

"What's the matter with Uno's friend?" Duo crossed his arms, interested.

"He's so scary looking…and he's in the third grade."

Duo looked at Uno and blinked, then grinned. "Uno…are you hitting on older boys again?"

Uno rolled her eyes. And turned away from the two of them.

"I thought I told you to stop after Heero."

"Please." Uno grumbled and Sarah followed her down the hallway.

Duo stood there laughing some. He was about to turn and go back to his room when the door knocked over and over and over again, repeatively. He spun around and faced it, glaring the door and already knowing who it had to be.

Glaring still, he grumbled, "Ricky."

He quickly grabbed the doorknob and swung open the door. What looked like a clone of Heero stood with his eyes wide and his right hand held in a fist in mid air—with an older looking boy similar to him standing behind.

"Let me guess…Ricky?"

"…" Ricky softly nodded and swallowed back what was stuck in his throat. He lowered his hand to his side. Duo grinned then faced up at his brother.

"And you are?"

"Johnson. Ricky's brother." The boy had shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes surrounded by a red hue; a low groan escaped Duo's throat as one word came to mind when he faced the ripped jean-shorts and old t-shirt boy with red eyes: druggie.

"I was hoping to meet y'alls father." Duo stood tall and leant on the doorframe.

"Yeah well, his works a bitch and won't let him off. He called me in the middle of a party to take my brother up here. Nice hood-by the way."

Duo sweat-dropped. _Hood?__ What the hell does the boy think he is?! He's wearing a death metal t-shirt and talking like a rapper!!!_ Duo's eyes looked down and to the corner, away from theirs.

"Er-yeah…thanks." He looked down at Ricky. "Come on in. I'll take your stuff but down the hallway is Uno and everyone else."

"Thanks." Ricky gave Duo his bag and carried Uno's gift down the hall. Duo looked up at Johnson.

"What party? A pill-n-weed crew? Rave? Slasher regroup?" Duo grinned.

"Dude, no way man! My friend, she's just turned 21 and all of her friends and she were hanging out at her house. I was invited for the show." Duo blinked.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Duo grinned, "your dad know you messin' around with a twenty-one-year-old girl and all of her friends?"

"Dude, chill man. Ain't no body going to get pregnant. They're all on the pill." Duo sweat-dropped again.

"Whatever. Are you picking up your brother tomorrow or your father?"

"See, that's what I need to talk to you about. My dad's out of town and wants me to do it. But…well…you see…you know I'll be busy with eleven girls and well…I was hoping you could drop him back off at the house."

"Your father doesn't mind having him home alone?" Johnson shook his head. "Okay…well, you've got our number in case you need to get in touch with him."

"Sure thing; whatever man. You look young to have a kid. How old are you?"

"Early twenties."

Johnson smirked. "Need a date? I know some fucking hot babes."

Duo lowered his head. "I'm engaged. No thank you." He faced Johnson's grinning face again. "Besides, if they're coming from you, they've got to be ugly."

"No way man! Three of them are models for Playboy. One's a beginner for Penthouse."

Duo blinked. "Your father know about all of this?"

Johnson shrugged and popped a cigarette in his mouth, cupped his hands around it, and lit the paper. Exhaling the first waft of the stick, he replied.

"No. He's never home anyways so basically it's just me taking care of Ricky. When he _is_ home he's usually busy in his office with work or paying bills."

"I was wondering about that. He picked up your brother the other day and I noticed his car."

Johnson nodded. "A Humvie—I know. His job pays him well as long as he gives them what they want."

"What does he do?"

Johnson shrugged again. "Hell if I know. The man's never home and doesn't answer his calls on his cell phone. It's a wonder if he has a secretive life. All I know is that he's only home Friday and Monday. But besides that, he's hardly at the house unless to get something."

Duo thought up an idea and grinning sheepishly at it. "Ever thought of sneaking around?"

"Yeah. Impossible. He's got some kind of locking system on the outside door of his office; I can't even shoot it off."

_I bet I can hack into it, though._

"Well, I gotta' get going. My girls are probably starting without me. Take care man!" Johnson waved off at Duo and turned to head back to his pickup truck.

"See ya'!" Duo shut the door and thought about what Johnson said of his father's job.

When Duo arrived into the living room of the party, he stopped and held back a big grin and laugh. Uno and Theresa had Ricky pinned down and wrapped up in the left over party strands that Duo had stored on a shelf. Ricky was squirming around when Duo leant on the wall.

"Uno, what are you two doing to that poor boy?"

"Nothing." Both Uno and Theresa replied innocently. Everyone else was on the side watching.

Ricky squirmed, "help me!"

"Look Uno," Duo began, stepping up to the three of them. "When tying a person up you have to remember that they can still talk."

Ricky's eyes got huge when Duo wrapped more party strands around his head and over his mouth. Uno and Theresa busted out giggling and laughing when Duo started doing what he was doing to Ricky. Sarah looked up at the new person in the hallway on the other side of the living room. He looked much like Ricky.

"Hey Ricky…you have a clone." Sarah stared up at Heero. Heero stopped and looked down at her, then over to Duo.

"Duo…let the boy go."

Duo sat back and looked at the two of them. "Hey Heero! You got a clone!"

"Now!!!" Uno shouted out and she, Theresa, and Sarah jumped on Duo's back. Theresa managed to weave confetti and more party things in Duo's braid, Sarah wrapped the party strands around the braid, and Uno the entire time was holding Duo by the neck to make sure they could get done what they were doing. When they all let go and Duo managed to stand up without little kids all over him, he was covered from head to toe in black party favors.

Heero smirked. "It matches you, Duo."

"Ah-shut up."a Duo looked down to all the smiling giggles below him. He glared and smirked each one of them.

"I have an idea…let's play a game."

"What game?" Sarah asked.

"Anyone up for twister?"

"I am!" Claryce hopped up. "I'm great in that game!"

"Sure!" Theresa looked at Uno.

Uno rolled her eyes, knowing already who was going to win.

"Follow me!" Duo went down the hallway and towards the stairs to go to the new second floor gameroom. The trail of girls followed behind.

"Hey!!! What about me?!" Ricky squirmed. "Grr."

Heero stepped up to him and took out his combat knife. "Hold still."

Ricky froze until Heero released him. He sat up. Heero looked at him closely.

"Whose your father?"

"Um…some guy that works for a living." Ricky stood and watched as Heero stood up.

"What does he do?"

"I don't know. Some military program."

_Which one?_ Heero studied him for a moment.

"Follow me, they're already upstairs." Heero turned and headed towards the staircase.

By the time Ricky got into the game room, Uno was on hands and feet, backwards, with Brittney and Sarah underneath her. Uno was on top and free of their grasp; Brittney and Sarah were struggling to stay up through their nasty-looking tie.

"Hey Ricky! Come join the fun!" Duo said, smiling at him. Ricky stepped in the room as Heero shut the door behind him, getting a good glimpse at Uno's winning streak.

"Quit moving, Sarah!" Birttney growled.

"I'm trying to scratch my side; I've got an itch!"

"Right hand on red." Claryce stated.

"Ah crap." Sarah looked around upside down for a red spot. Uno quickly placed her hand on the one Sarah spotted.

"Yes!" Brittney tackled the spot she found.

"Dang Uno…I didn't think you could bend that way!" Uno blinked and looked over—upside down—at Theresa.

"Wow." Ricky sat down besides Duo.

"Shikies!" Sarah's foot slipped and caused her to fall. Brittney was using her for support and fell as well. Uno stayed up.

"Yay! Uno wins again!" Uno released her hands from the floor and used her strength to pull herself upwards to a standing position. Everyone around her except for Duo gawked; Duo grinned.

_That's my girl._

"My turn!" Ricky stood and kicked off his shoes.

"Me too!" Claryce stood and handed Theresa the board.

Theresa spun the dial and then began with "Left foot on green."

Each took their green spot, glaring one another. Uno grinned instead.

"Left hand on yellow...right foot on blue."

"Um…Uno…can you wiggle over some?" Sarah Claryce asked.

"No." Uno grinned.

"Claryce, you're in my way." Ricky managed to weave himself through the two girls.

Duo blinked. _The damn boys already managing to get entangled with two girls! Damn…_

"Right hand on yellow."

"Uh oh…" Ricky noticed where he stood against and found the closest yellow spot was far on the other side. "This is going to rough."

About three hours later and many tired kids of paying Twister, Duo decided it was time to go back downstairs. They grabbed their shoes—except for Uno and Theresa—and traveled down the flight of stairs back to the living room. Heero was rubbing his fingers over the painted hole when Duo grabbed his shoulders.

"Heero!"

"Hn?"

Duo peered around his shoulders to glimpse a peak at the wall. "Is it dry yet?"

"Can you find it?" Duo sweat-dropped. "My point exactly."

"Well pish-posh! I'll just return to watch the party of vicious children!" Duo and Heero glanced down the hall to the pack of kids in the living room, pushing each other around like they were fighting.

Duo sniffed back a fake cry. "They remind me of my group when I was their age. It's so sad."

Heero rolled his eyes. Uno stepped up to them.

"Duo…can we watch some of your anime?"

Duo blinked. Heero smirked at him because most of Duo's anime was hentai.

"Which one?"

"Petshop of Horrors."

"Uno…that's not for your age group."

"But I've seen it before, and they'll all older than me!" Uno pouted. "Pweas?"

"Don't you give me that innocent, 'I'll-cheat-you-in-through-acting-cute attitude! It won't work on me." Duo sneered.

"But…" Uno pouted.

"No!" Duo shouted.

Pouting, Uno hung her head and turned to go down the hallway. She let a sniffle escape her.

Duo sighed. Heero grinned at him.

Duo grumbled, "I hate it when she does that." He raised his voice back to Uno. "Fine…you can watch it!"

Uno spun around and smiled up at Duo. "Love you Duo!" She ran into the living room.

"And you got on Quatre's case for falling to the act. Shame on you." Heero walked away from Duo.

"What?!" Duo stood there, amazed.

"Hey Uno…what's Words Worth? It looks cool! Let's watch that afterwards!" Jessica looked in the cabinet at all the anime movies.

"Ask Duo; they're all his." Uno put in the Petshop of Horrors DVD.

Jessica turned around to face Heero.

"Hey Heero? Can we watch Words Worth?"

Heero stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned his head to her direction. "No." He stated clearly.

"Why not?" Brittney asked, snobbishly.

"Not for children." Heero glared Brittney.

"Hey, I'm in third grade!" Ricky raised his hand.

Heero looked at him. "You're only nine-years-old."

"…How'd you know?"

"…Guessed." Heero turned and left the room for the kitchen.

Duo came in just when the first show was starting. He crept past the group as silently as he could and into the kitchen. Heero was on his laptop and eating a bowl of grapes. Duo grabbed a Sprite from the fridge and sat down besides Heero, grabbed a handful of grapes, and ate a few.

"I have an idea." Duo began.

"Hn?"

"I want to play a joke on them."

Heero smirked. "What kind?"

"Well…knowing Uno if she's anything like me—which we all know by now she is—she'll want to tell ghost stories later on tonight."

"So what would you do to them?"

"_We_ are going to scare the living breath out of their bodies!" Duo grinned.

Heero stopped trying and shook his head smirking. "Alright. Just let me finish this and then we'll both head out to the shed for tools."

"Alright." Duo ate another grape until the best finally got of him. "What ya' doing?" He leant over to look at the screen.

"Sending an email."

"To who?"

"To a company manager who was called in." Heero sent the letter and shut down his laptop. "I got a call from someone who was fired for no good reason and wanted me to send a virus."

"How much they pay you?" Duo took a gulp of his Sprite.

"Fifty thousand."

Duo choked on his swallow and coughed. "Fifty thousand! Jeeze, Heero! What are you going to buy with that?"

"More things for the training room. Uno's getting better and I want to teach her the rocket launcher."

"…How much do they cost?" Duo stayed quiet.

Heero stood up and put his laptop underneath his arm while he carried the empty bowl to the sink. "No more than fifteen."

"For a good one, I mean." Duo stood up.

Heero turned around to face him.

"A good one is about fifty to seventy-five. She's in training, I'm getting a little cheapy."

Duo grumbled. "You call that a cheapy."

"What do you call it? How much would you pay for an updated model of a scythe?"

"Yeah but those are antiques!"

"And rocket launchers are illegal."

"They are?" Duo cocked his head to the side.

Heero nodded. "Outlawed around the beginning of the Federation when Zeon ruled the forces."

"Who?"

Heero hung his head in doubt. "Duo…before our times in fighting, did you ever read up on our history to know what the cause we'd be fighting for?" Duo shook his head. "It's the same reason I agreed to help you train Uno. Wars have existed for _centuries_—long before Oz was ever even thought up. The Federation goes back centuries, to the first colony, really. I know you've heard of the RX-78, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not _that_ idiotic. I know about the first Gundam. But what about it?"

"Since then wars have repeated. Even though we're going through a time of peace right now, there will again, be another war. Perhaps not in Uno's lifetime, but soon. It's been long enough."

"Damn Heero…I don't need a history lesson here." Duo stood up and followed Heero out the into the garage.

"Then maybe you should read about _our_ history on your own."

That night, when the movie was finally over, Uno ejected the DVD and turned on the lights to see a few shaken faces. She blinked as Claryce , Jessica, and Sarah looked fightened.

"Was it _that_ scary?" The three of them looked at Uno and nodded.

Uno giggled and put the disc back in the case, then put the case back in the cabinet.

"I've got an idea." Uno began.

"Let's watch another movie." Brittney stated.

"Well…I have to ask Duo."

"What was your idea, Uno?" Theresa asked.

"If anyone wanted to tell ghost stories."

"Isn't that supposed to be done at night when it's dark?" Brittney rolled her eyes.

Uno glared Brittney then managed a cocky attitude like hers while she retorted. "Well then I guess Sarah, Jessica, and Claryce have you to blame if they get scared again."

"Please, only an idiot would fall for something stupid like that or the movie." Brittney folded her arms over her chest.

"I don't know, you seemed to have jumped in one scene in the movie. And if I remember correctly, you said 'eww' in another." Ricky grinned. Uno sat back against his arms and smirked. Theresa smirked as well.

Everyone was quiet with nothing to say or do for the next few moments. Brittney sighed heavily. Jessica looked around the room. Claryce picked dirt out of her nails. All three girls were silently sitting on the couch, not minding a thing…until a masked creature popped up from behind them and screamed, his arms flailing about with a bloodied scythe in hand. The face was a skeleton covered with a black cape over its head, blood dripped out of its mouth, and the eyes were so black it looked as if there were nothing beneath it.

All three girls screamed wildly and leaped off the couch with immense speed. They spun around and fell to the floor, scooting back as much as they could. Brittney bumped into Ricky, Claryce into Theresa, and Jessica into Sarah. The character stood up and removed the mask. Soon after, a smiling and laughing braided man was standing before them, repeating familiar words.

"Only an idiot would fall for something like that? What's that make you?"

Uno grinned at Brittney. Brittney held her hands to her chest and breathed heavily.

"Anyone want cake and icecream?!"

"Yeah!" Shouted Jessica, Claryce, and Sarah. Theresa stood up. Ricky stood up and helped Uno up.

"Not if its coming from you." Brittney stood up and followed everyone into the dining room. She smirked. "Nice room, Uno."

Uno smiled in return to Brittney and sat down in the end chair of the table. She swallowed what stuck in her throat, knowing that now Duo was going to have everybody sing to her a happy birthday song. She sulked; she didn't want to be reminded that they were all going to stay the night.

When they finally stopped chatting away, Duo brought in a black cake with flames and blood decorated all over it. Uno blinked at it. It looked more like a Halloween cake rather than a birthday cake, but coming from Duo it no longer mattered. He placed six candles in a circle around a Gundam design and lit them. Trying to ignore the song they sung at her, and Ricky's grinning face at Duo holding up her braid, Uno was finally given the chance to blow out the candles…only they lit back up.

"Trick candles! Those are so great!" Sarah said.

"…" Uno stared at the flames, blew again, then watched them return to life. Growing antsy, she just took both her hands and shoved them down onto the wick of the dancing flames, instantly putting them out. Everyone froze expecting Uno to be in pain and her hands to be sore. Instead, she let go and smiled when the flames finally died out.

It was Duo who broke the silence. "Um…who wants a corner?" _Heh__…damn Uno!_

Duo passed out slices of cake to everyone and then opened up the tub of ice cream. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and triple fudge chocolate ice cream; what a meal! He passed out several scoops to everyone and realized they were on the verge of running out.

"Dang…y'all are a bunch of pigs! Look at this!" Duo held up the container and everyone—even Brittney—laughed some. Uno giggled at the fact that Duo spent a lot of money of a full gallon of ice cream, never use any of it, and now it was just about all gone with out him even getting a chance to have some.

Duo scooped up just about the rest except for a spoonful and put it on a plate for himself. He turned away to pass out napkins to everyone and when he turned back, saw it missing and the back of Heero walking into the kitchen. He whined. Uno tugged on his shirt and gave him the rest of hers—considering she was practically already finished.

About an hour later, Duo was stacking up paper plates in the trash can when Brittney and Uno walked down the hallway of bedrooms. Ricky stood shocked at the end of the hall; Theresa gawked at them as well.

"So Uno…you live here alone?"

Uno nodded, "Mmhm, just me and the five of them."

"Of who?"

"Duo's friends. They helped teach me so I could go to school. I didn't know anything. Duo and Trowa taught me how to read. Trowa how to count and Quatre how to be proper."

"What did Heero teach you?" Birttney glanced at Uno.

"…How to stay quiet."

They both giggled. Brittney stopped when they reached the corner of the hallway and ran down the other side to the huge windows and the French doors.

"Wow! Look how dark it is outside! You can't even see the grass!" Brittney plastered her face to the window.

Uno sighed and stepped up to her. "I know. Duo said there's a search light-thing out there that'll turn on by itself when there's movement."

"Search lights; we have those all around our house." Birttney looked at Uno and stepped away from the glass, grinning. "Ready to tell those ghost stories of yours?"

The group was gathered in a circle by the time Uno and Brittney returned to them; very appropriate for them at this moment. Ricky noticed Uno had a flashlight in her hands and Brittney a flame dancing lamp.

"What's those for?" Ricky asked.

"Ghost stories, what else?" Brittney replied and sat down. She placed the lamp in the center and plugged it in to the wall. Uno went around and shut out the lights around them: kitchen, hallways, living room, television, and anything else that gave off a hint of outside life. She stepped back up to the group and shined the flash light on each member of the pack.

"So…who goes first?" Uno asked.

"I want to! My mom said I'm very good at being morbid." Jessica raised her hand. She took the flashlight from Uno and held it to her chin. "Do I go yet?"

Uno sat down on the end of the circle, in the middle of Ricky and Theresa. "Go ahead."

"Alright. On a cold and midnight time, there was a young girl named Nancy who was never able to fit in with the rest of the crowds. She wore long black clothes and pale face paint. Her eyes were baby blue. Her hair was as black as oil. She was perfectly beautiful in the dark sense of fashion; all except for being the witch that she is. Well, Nancy was busy sorting out her book of spells from the book of monsters and the likes when she got a phone call. She wasn't sure who would be calling at one in the morning, so she answered it. To her surprise, it was a mans voice. The same man she likes that she sees everyday in school. He sounded like he was in trouble, like he was dying. His voice was rough and scratchy, like his throat was sliced. Nancy didn't know what to do, so she replied cautiously—Claryce, your turn."

Claryce blinked and received the flashlight from Jessica. Duo was making his way down the dark staircase when he heard the soft sounds of gossips or story telling. Quickly, he leaped over the banister about five steps away from the ground floor and took off running down the hallway. He spun the corner, ran to the library, emerged into the other hallway and busted open the training room door. Heero was aiming his gun at a target and pulled back.

"What?"

"They're telling ghost stories." Duo coughed, smirking and catching his breath.

Heero grinned and slowly turned to face Duo. "Are you ready?"

"So, when they finally came up to her mangled body, they were so shaken up they didn't know what to do. Nancy fled from her house in the midst of the night, expecting to save someone's life but in turn the jokers struck her with their car by accident. Nancy's body laid there in the road, twisted in ways that were inhuman. The group of jokers circled her body, talking about what they were going to do next, when all of a sudden—Uno." Theresa handed Uno the flashlight. By now, Uno was the last person. It started with Jessica, went to Claryce, then to Sarah and then Brittney. From there Ricky took over and gave the light to Theresa. Uno was the one to finish the story—oh yay, she thought.

"When all of a sudden, Nancy's eyes shot open with a blood red color and looked at each person who stood around her. She growled and slowly began to sit up. By now, everyone was sure she was killed. After all, Phil had said that when he checked her pulse, she was cold. But, even now Phil was beginning to think he had no right to become a doctor because the laws of life no longer worked for Nancy as she stood up and hunched her body over. Blood seeped out of the cuts on her forehead. It dripped out of her eye sockets, her nostrils, and her mouth. Her fingers curled up into fists. They gripped tighter and everyone decided that if they wanted to survive, now would be their only time. Quickly, everyone ran from her and took shelter in their scattered places. Cara ran and hid in the cluttered shed. Sharon snuck down into the storm shelter, un-aware of the un-use of it for centuries and the amount of poisonous snakes down there with her. Phil and David took shelter in the abandoned house, the house that was nearly fallin' apart. Nancy didn't take no for an answered and wanted her revenge. She managed to make her way towards the shed. Upon arrival, her foot hit something hard and metal and noticed it was the chainsaw. Grinning with satanic thoughts, she picked it up. A soft whimper escaped Cara's lips and it signaled Nancy that someone was in there. Nancy stepped inside and hid in the shadows, kept really quiet until Cara made another move and when she got close enough, cranked the engine. Before she knew it, Cara was chopped up. Nancy didn't want anything else to get in her way or anyone to get away, so made her way outside. She stepped up to the storm shelter and locked the pad lock together, making sure Sharon had all the time she deserved with nature's loveable deadly creatures. A scream and knock on the metal doors told Nancy that the snakes have already gotten to Sharon and were soon devouring the fresh meat. Nancy looked up at the house and stepped inside. The winding staircase was made of wood and much of it was already destroyed. Cranking the engine, she started the chainsaw and took down the rest of the old staircase. The stairs fell and shattered to the floor below and caused a large hole in the ground to the basement below. A vile scream sounded up from below to tell Nancy that Phil was struck by falling debris. With only David left to go, she used her witch-like powers and lit the candles around her with only her eyes. She picked up a candle stick and carried it to the nearest wall, then to the other walls, to the furniture, the ground, then finally she through it down into the basement and watched as the flames shot up. She slowly turned out and left the building. Without a home to go and with only a chainsaw in hand, she lifted her face to the sky and screamed out loud, at the top of her lung, with all of her fury and might, how much she was ready to just let loose and fall over."

Uno looked at each member of the group—including Ricky and Theresa—and smirked; everyone's mouth was gawked open and they looked as though they were terrified. Suddenly, a the engine of a chainsaw cranked to life in what sounded like only a few feet away and a deadly scream sounded the room. Everyone screamed—except for Ricky and Uno; Theresa just jumped and shook some—and ran from the gathering 'camp fire' and scattered across the house. Jessica fled to the upstairs. Brittney ran down the hallway to the library. Sarah and Claryce both ran down the opposite hallway and hid in the old office Quatre onced used.

Uno shut her eyes, shook her head, and lowered her face to the ground. Ricky laughed. Theresa smirked some, still shaken up, and glanced at both of her friends.

Duo took off his Devil mask and killed the engine of the chainsaw. He blinked and looked around.

"Was I that scary?"

About an entire hour later, everyone slowly made their ways back to the living room. The light was back on, Theresa, Ricky, and Uno were playing video games, and Duo was sitting on the couch watching. Heero sat in the chair on the side of the room looking something up on his laptop.

"Um…that story…earlier…um…" Sarah stumbled out.

"I liked it too." Uno smiled up at her. Ricky grinned.

"Eh-yeah." Sarah sweat-dropped.

"Hey…now that everyone's calmed down from the experience of a life time…" Duo received a bunch of glares for that. "Heh…how about Uno opening presents?"

"Yeah…I'm up for that." Brittney said, sitting down on the corner of the couch and hugging her knees.

"Great!" Duo got up and dragged the table over to the group. Uno turned off the console and walked up to Duo. The first gift she picked up was wrapped in a pink paper.

She looked at Sarah who was grinning wildly. "Yours I can guess."

Sarah nodded. "Go on, open it!"

Uno opened it to see a box with decorations on it. She blinked and turned it around until she got to the front of the package. "Puzzle Box?"

"Yeah. It's like six puzzles in one…very confusing. It took me forever to figure out. My dad had to finish it for me."

Uno smiled. "Thanks."

Next Uno lifted up a sparkling silverish-blue paper wrapped gift and looked it over.

"Its from me." Claryce smiled.

Uno nodded and ripped it open. It was a Polly Molly Jennifer doll. Brittney smirked. Uno blinked.

"Thanks…Claryce."

"Open mine next!" Brittney picked up a pink and green striped gift that was pretty big and handed it to Uno. She then picked up a pink and blue striped gift that was four times smaller.

Uno unwrapped the larger one and found it was a Polly Molly vacation home set. The second one was a Polly Molly doll with accessories up the butt. Uno blinked and smiled at Brittney.

"Thanks!" Uno made everyone appear as if she were glad for the gifts and going to play with it as soon as possible, but Theresa and Ricky both knew—along with Duo and Heero—that she'd store it in a closet and forget about it on purpose. Only Duo and Heero knew she'd use it for target practice.

Uno picked up a purple wrapped package with monkeys on the paper. It was shaped funny and squishy. Uno poked a hole in it and tore the paper off. It was black stuffed cat with big yellow eyes. Uno blinked at it and smiled, hugging it.

"His name is Kuroneko; he's from the anime Trigun. I thought it was so cute so I got it for you! It fits you well too!" Jessica said.

"I thought that cat looked familiar." Duo said, glancing to and from the glass cabinet where his Trigun collection was to the cat in Uno's arms.

"Well…open mine next then Ricky's!"

"Gee…thanks Theresa." Ricky grumbled.

Theresa giggled and Uno picked up the large black wrapped gift that took the entire length of the table.

"Dare I ask what you got me?"

"You can try." Theresa grinned even after Uno glared her.

Uno pried her fingers in a hole and tore at the paper. Her eyes widened when she found there was more black paper beneath it. Again, she ripped it off and again, more black paper. It wasn't until an entire ten minutes went by and a multitude of black paper was surrounding Uno and she was just about to ask Duo for a lighter when she finally reached the box. Inside, she found it was a bunch of fake medieval weapons that included a scythe, whip, chains, and more. She even taped up besides the box a couple newer and modern age weapons like a berretta, sub machine gun, and more. Uno's eyes widened at the sight and grabbed Theresa for a grippingly tight hug.

"Thank you!!!" Theresa giggled and patted her friend on the pack.

Heero blinked at all the things inside and grinned; Uno's training has just kicked up a notch.

Ricky sighed. "Now you make my gift look like a bunch of crap." Ricky picked up his present, looked it over, then handed it to Uno. "Here."

Uno smiled at him and opened it. "At least you didn't wrap it up to death like she did."

"No…I'm not that harsh and rude." Theresa spat her tongue out at Ricky. Ricky grinned.

Uno opened it up to see a 35,000 piece puzzle with pictures of all sorts of medieval and new modern weapons on it. Uno, Duo, and even Heero's eyes shot open at it.

"How did you find something like this?!" Uno shouted, giving Ricky the biggest and tightest hug yet.

"Heh…well, my brother found a bunch of pictures on the internet and printed it out. I don't know how he made it, but he put the pictures together and colored—actually painted—it onto wood then cut the wood up with my dad's jigsaw puzzle cutter. I didn't think he was this sweet, but he helped me."

"Wow." Uno looked at the picture.

"It'll fit your entire wall for about three to four feet in width, he said."

"Thank you." Uno was enlightened in the present.

"Can I help you put it together?" Theresa, too, was gawking at the picture.

Brittney and Claryce both sulked and looked disturbed, as if a boy was accidentally born in a girl body. Jessica didn't care and Sarah only smirked; at least Uno didn't fake-to-like hers.

"Alright all you kiddies! It's one in the morning…it's time for bed." Duo stood up.

"Look whose talking." A sullen voice from below spoke and Duo turned around to glare Heero in the face.


	20. Wufei's Training

_**NOTE TO READERS:** Um…some time has passed since her birthday and yes, I know, this is a rather short training. I'm sorry. Right now, I'm trying to get the maps finished and completed for the next chapter. The following chapter(s) is/are going to be rather HUGE when I put the maps in. I may have to split it up into multiple chapters, and I was thinking of having it a story of its own…but I don't know just yet. I'm going to get it all down first then decide what I'm going to do. I got to find a way to get the maps to fit in this thing without loosing its proportions._

(**_Notice_** as of Sept. 22, 2004: Maps are all finished. You may view them at my portal; my **HOMEPAGE **link is on my bio page. Maps are on the bottom right column - you can't miss it)

Duo's Child

Chapter 20

It was an early Sunday morning on the start of Uno's winter vacation; the first day off from school. The wheather was chilly, the trees were dead…and she was cold for the first time in five months. The worse thing Uno was worried about for winter vacation…was having to train again.

She yawned and stretched as she sat up that morning. Eight in the morning and amazingly she couldn't sleep anymore. Shrugging, she pulled herself out of bed and went downstairs to the living room.

"Quatre! I'd rather die before I let her take Uno for a week!"

"But Duo, it will be for Uno's own good."

"Why? So she can forget about everything we've taught her? So she can become a Relena's Barbie Doll? So Relena can act like she has a child of her own—cuz, heh, we both know, Quatre, Heero ain't giving her any."

"Duo?" Uno stepped up to him.

"Uno…go in the kictchen, will ya'?" Duo looked down at her. "Quatre and I have to talk."

He looked pissed, but Uno still wanted to see him. Sighing, she went into the kitchen.

"Duo, please."

"No!"

"Why not?!"

"Quatre-"

"Why not Duo?" Quatre was persistent and Duo felt he had no way out.

"She'll change Uno entirely!"

Quatre sighed. "Then what, Duo? Then what will you do? Continue training her? I thought you wanted everybody to teach her."

"I do," Duo paused, "But why Relena?"

"Why not Dorothy?" Quatre asked; Duo nodded. "Because Dorothy is to be taught to her afterwards. Uno doesn't know war from peace; let her learn peace first form the pacifists point of view then over to a-"

"Blood-loving lunatic?" Duo smirked. "I see why you agree in that order, but not…_now_!" Duo shouted and threw his arms down.

Quatre sighed. "Very well, Duo. Then who would teach her for this week?"

Uno was walking down the sidewalk with Theresa, who was humming and swaying her head from side to side. Uno was kicking rocks and pine cones out of the way. Both girls were slowly walking towards the nearest park.

"Duo let's you walk alone?" Theresa asked, stopping her song to ask a question.

Uno nodded, "He doesn't think I'll get hurt."

"Wow…my parents were skeptical about letting me go to the park, even with you."

Uno shrugged and looked up when the park came into view.

"Well, we made it, didn't we?"

Theresa looked up and smiled. She then faced Uno and as if words were spoken silently, they both sprinted into a run towards the park. Uno leaped over the tiny fencing and stopped without even a heavy breath. She turned to see Theresa, who was trying to catch her breath.

"I win again."

"Yeah…I…I know." Theresa glared Uno. Both girls walked up to the swings and sat down. Immediately, a heavy hispanic boy stepped up to them.

"Hey idiots!" Both Uno and Theresa looked up to glare him. "Did I say you could sit down on my swings?!"

Theresa snapped her face over to Uno, who, unamazingly, just stared back in return and replied unemotionaly.

"No."

"So then get up!"

Theresa looked down and was about to get up when Uno replied in the argument.

"Why? Do you own this park? Do you own this city? Do you own the United Earth Shere Alliance? Do you own the Universe? Do you own humanity?"

"Man, whatever. Just get up or else I'm gunna' fucking kill you!"

Theresa stood and backed away from the boy. Uno stood up and stayed where she was. He looked at her and screamed again.

"Didn't you hear me, bitch?!"

"No, sorry…someone was yelling and made me deaf. Could you repeat that a bit louder?" Uno smirked.

Suddenly, a huge and massive fist struck Uno on the cheak and threw her onto the ground. Eyes as huge as saucers and mouth gaping wildly, Uno placed her hand on her abused cheak and looked up at the boy. Fright took over in her eyes.

"Now get the fuck out of my park, bitch!"

"You hit me…" Uno dazed out some.

"Get out!"

Uno scrambled to her feet and ran off with Theresa. From behind, she could hear him yelling back at her.

"And don't you fucking come back! You stupid prick!"

By the time Uno made it back to the gates of the mansion, she was spent. She and Theresa ran all the way over to Theresa's big house and Uno had to run all the way back. The lights were turning on and the streets were getting dark; plus it was getting colder out. She was hoping nobody would be home so she could make it up the stairs to her room without anyone seeing the red bruise on her face.

She opened the front door and heard nothing. When she turned around to shut it, she found a note. It read:

Uno, gone to the store with Quatre. Trowa went back to the Circus to practice. Heero's out somewhere. Be back later. Don't stay up too late. –Duo

Uno sighed and smiled. She trashed the paper, ran up the stairs, and looked in the mirror in her bathroom. The mark was big and it stung when she touched it. She shut her eyes and left the bathroom. She went downstairs, grumbling about needing to learn how to fight, and went to the PS2 in the living room. She withdrew her Tekken games and popped in the latest one.

Going to the practice mode and turning on the manual replay, she began doing combos and watching the replay. A few times, she tried to copy them. They kicked; she kicked, They punched; she punched. They did a jumping drop kick, she tried and fell. They did a couple throws; she tried to get the hang of the motions they used.

She heard a smirked sounding behind her and Uno spun around to see Wufei standing there, watching her. She reddened in the face and stood still.

"A boy hit me today…" She mumbled.

Wufei looked at her then around her to the television showing the game. She looked back at her.

"You did the move wrong. Put more of the strength into your arm and less in your shoulder. Otherwise, you have a higher chance of displacing your joints."

Wufei stepped up to her and lifted her arms in the position they were meant to be.

"Now stay steady and balanced, when they strike, you will then loop around them and grab them from behind…" Wufei did a slow replay to show Uno. "See?"

Uno nodded.

"Why are you learning anyways? Have Duo go down to the park tomorrow."

"I want to kick his ass."

Wufei shook his head and looked into her eyes. "Don't say that word."

"The boy did."

"That boy also struck you. The weakest kind hits a woman because a woman is naturally weaker than the man."

"Duo doesn't believe you."

"Duo is also an idiot."

Uno giggled. Wufei smirked. He then sighed.

"Uno…how intent are you on learning?"

"Duo wants me to be Shinimegami!" Uno smiled up at him.

"Yeah, I know. I will teach you the ways of the art of fighting and on being honorable, but you have to pay attention and take it all with open arms. I won't teach if you don't want to learn."

"No!" Uno stammered her foot down and threw her fists to her sides. "I want to kick his…butt!"

"Alright…continue what you're doing so you have some slight background. If you need me, I'll be in the library reading."

"What ya' gonna' read?"

"Earth History, 4060 AD to FC 60." Uno blinked at him. "The history of this planet before and after the colonies were built."

"How many colonies are there?"

Wufei looked off in though for a moment then returned to her. "About a dozen hundred. The older ones, used when the colonies were first created, are not to be used for civilians anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because they are old technology and out of date. It's a very dangerous place for anyone because at any moment, the systems can shut down or explode."

"What's it like?"

Wufei smirked. Uno was a little devil when it came to history.

"Well, nothing like the colonies now. There was no wheather patterns, no skies that had clouds. Pretty much, like a space ship."

"What do they look like now?"

"Like another Earth but you see land on top of you." Wufei looked down at her big sparkling eyes and smiled. "I'm pretty sure Duo'll take you there one day."

"Really?"

Wufei nodded. "Train."

Duo submerged through the front door with three bags in his arms and Quatre stumbling in behind with over a dozen more, straining his muscles and harming his arms. Quatre just barely managed to shut the door behind him before a bag ripped from its handle and fell to the floor. Duo spun around and looked at him.

"Duo, these are heavy. Would you mind helping me some?" Quatre winced.

Duo grabbed a couple bags from Quatre's bruised arm and lifted them up. He smirked and nodded to his friend then turned to go to the kitchen. When he walked by the living room, he saw Tekken 3 in the training mode without a character being played. He blinked at it, but continued into the kitchen. Quatre came in behind him.

"Where's Uno?" Quatre asked, placing a bag on the counter and dropping the loose items on the table.

Duo put the five bags on the floor and wondered as well.

"I don't know. I'll go look; be back soon."

"Thanks."

Duo spun back around to face Quatre before exiting the kitchen. "Huh?"

"For going food shopping with me. Thanks; I really appreciate it."

"Oh, yeah sure. I figured I could pay you back for all the times I spoil my dinner." Duo winked and turned to leave the room.

He paused behind the couch and thought a few times. "Now where would I be if I were Uno? Where would she go in the middle of a training mode, not even paused?" Duo thought. "The bathroom?"

He walked to the powder room bathroom on the first floor and opened it. The unlocked door told him she wasn't there to begin with so he figured to check up stairs. Still, he found no Uno. Still wondering where she could have gone, he traveled down the second floor hallway to the gameroom, looked inside, and found the room empty of life. He returned downstairs and stood in front of the television to think. He looked down the other hallway opposite of the one he took and began heading that direction. When he came to the first door on his right, he checked and found no body but an old empty office. He traveled a little more ways to the door near the end of the hall on the left, and found the training room black. He ran down the hallway, ignoring the gym and the first floor game room to the library, expecting her to have forgotten the game was on and search for another book. He flew open the door and scanned the room. All that was in there was the desk lamp turned on, sitting on the only table in the room. It shined down upon an old history text book.

Duo stepped up to the book and turned it around to take a good look at it. He could tell Wufei was home; Uno had no clue about the colonies.

Lucky her.

He looked around and sighed, then left the room by the same door he came from. He figured to at least _try_ the gym and when he opened it, found the light on and Wufei standing besides an arm-flailing Uno. He blinked and stepped into the room.

"Slow down, slow down. You don't want to get hasty when you train; you'll throw your entire bone structure out of ordinary…good."

Duo stepped up to Wufei. "Hey."

"She's got a pretty decent force down."

"Huh?" Duo looked at Uno, who was slowly shifting to different stances of Chinese Martial Arts.

"Her moves; she's only practicing, but she's got a hefty force for a light move."

"So you're going to train her? Why all of a sudden?" Duo stood besides Wufei and watched Uno train with her eyes shut.

"A boy struck her face when she was at the park. She vowed not to tell you for fear you would intersect her fight." Wufei spoke without taking his eyes off her.

"He hit her? Who? At the park?" Duo slowly became ecstatic.

"Duo, please. The last thing Uno needs in training is an outsider entering the war without any knowledge to the battle." Duo sweat-dropped. "Go ahead and leave. I won't keep her up too late. She needs her sleep if I am to train her for the next two weeks."

"Two weeks?! Why so long?!"

"You can't learn martial arts in a single day. Even a week, it'll take more than a month to become professional enough to be a beginner."

"So it's two weeks?" Wufei nodded. Duo dropped his head and forced his hands in his pockets. "Just don't weaken her. She's going to Relena's as soon as you're finished with her."

Wufei smirked and watched Duo walk away. "Your call?"

Duo spun around and walked out backwards. "No-hers. But I can't say no. If I do, I'll get more hell than we had with OZ."

Wufei smirked and looked back at Uno when Duo finished off.

"Good, now stop and take a rest. Watch me, I'm going to show you how to do a spinning drop kick."

Duo looked up at Heero as he entered the living room. Heero had on a movie and wasn't even paying any attention to it. Duo sat on the back of the couch and looked at the television.

"Attention span not large enough to reach the television?"

"Hn."

Duo looked down at the laptop on Heero's lap and at the screen. He blinked at the encrypted DOS message Heero was typing out.

"What are you doing?"

As if he stumbled across secret enemy plans, Heero sprang up from his seat, spun around and stared into Duo's wonderous eyes.

"What did you see?" He demanded.

"Um…a DOS encryption. Who are you messaging to this time? The scientists are dead."

Heero's eyes slowly narrowed and he closed the laptop together.

"When you get older, I'll explain."

Heero passed by Duo without another word and went into the hallway.

"Sheeze. You can't even speak to the man without getting offended."

A giggle behind him made Duo turn around to see Quatre sipping on wine.

"He's had a rough day."

"Doing what? Internet searching?"

Quatre sipped his wine and shook his head. "Emmhm, no. Relena was with him."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Oh, that."

Quatre giggled, smiled, and nodded.

Duo blinked at him. "You drink alcohol?"

"A little wine each day is good for the body. It cleanses the system and revives your immune system."

"I didn't know that."

"It's part of keeping yourself in good shape." Quatre walked by him to sit on the couch.

"No, I meant about you drinking. I didn't know." Duo slid over the backside of the couch and sat on the cushions. "Does Trowa know about it?"

"Duo, you're making it sound like I'm an alcoholic; yes he knows. He drinks it with me."

"…"

Quatre giggled.

"I'm gonna' go walk around some." Duo stood and walked around the couch towards the library. "You have fun watching your porno movie."

"What?!" Quatre snapped his head back to the television screen to see a couple getting it on. Quickly, he grabbed the remote control and switched the station, then turn it off. He sat back and sighed.

"Since when did Heero watch porno?"

Duo was laughing his butt off when he was walking away from the living room. He knew Heero looked at porn but he didn't know it was supposed to be kept a secret. He was still laughing when he turned the corner and stepped up to the library door. When he stepped inside, he nearly choked out on his laughter as he saw Heero sitting and skimming through some history books on the table.

"I didn't know you liked porno!" Heero snapped his face up at Duo.

Duo shut the door behind him. "Quatre just found out about the movie too!"

"Kuso. Baka, get out!" Heero growled and looked back down to the books. "And leave me alone; I'm busy."

"So…Relena know about your Hentai fetish?" Duo leaned on the table grinning.

"I'm warning you, get out."

"Maybe I should tell her."

"That's it!" Heero sprang to his feet and Duo's face went white. "I've had it with you and your wild mouth! Will you shut up for once?!"

Duo backed away from Heero and down one of the make-shift bookcase hallways. He lifted his hands into the air.

"Heero, calm down buddy. I'm only joking with ya'. It's just a shock that you like to see porno. I mean, I knew about your magazines, but videos? It's just a shock, that's all man. I mean, come on, buddy. Everybody looks at that type of shit once in their life." Duo turned around the back corner, staying away from Heero as best as he could.

"Baka." Heero growled beneath his breath. "You don't know the half of what's going on! Just shut up and get out!"

"Heero, please. Mind yourself. Remember, we're in-" Duo's back hit an empty bookcase and he paused.

"Get out." Heero growled.

"Heero." Duo stepped forward one step but Heero grabbed his shirt collar and pinned him against another empty bookcase on the side where the far back wall is.

Duo gasped and grabbed Heero's wrists.

"H-hey buddy! Calm down! Please! I'm only trying to cheer you up! Come on! Please?!" Duo whimpered.

Heero leaned closer and glared at him. "Get out, then."

Heero forcefully pushed Duo back against the bookcase. He backed away slowly and Duo regained his balance. He adjusted his clothing and sighed. Unfortunately, that sigh tipped Heero off the top of the charts and sent his reeling towards Duo in a violent rush. Duo fell back into the bookcase with Heero head in his gut. His hands grabbed the back of Heero's shirt and gripped tightly while he brought up his knees to meet with Heero's stomach. Heero grunted several times as the impact left him feeling uneasy. He pushed back and Duo grabbed his shirt collar, balled his fist, and swung at him. Heero's face burned with the multiple hits and he fought back. Duo's face reddened with the punches, but he was able to stay awake this time. Duo ran towards Heero and tried tackling him, but only squashed him in between himself and another empty bookcase. The fight went on for a few minutes until Heero finally managed to grab the back of Duo's head and jab his kneecaps into Duo's face many times. Duo grumbled loudly and pushed away from Heero. He stumbled back a few feet and smirked.

"Come on Heero, is that all you got?" He grinned while wiping the blood off his lip. Heero snorted some of the blood back up his nose and growled fiercely at him. Duo gained his balance this time and stood in an old football position, ready to take on Heero's rampage. Only this time, when Heero charged, it was with full force. Duo fell back against the empty bookcase roughly this time and fell forward, hitting the floor rather hard. It was a heavy force that even left the bookcase swaying back and forth in its position. Heero stepped back a few feet, waiting for Duo's next move in the little room they had. However, when Duo was slowly getting himself together and getting up, the bookcase tilted forwards and tipped a bit to far to sway backwards. It lost its balance and fell forward…directly on top of Duo.

Duo got knocked down to the floor with a big bang. He grumbled, sprawled his arms out in front of him for support, and groaned out loud.

"Ughn…that hurt."

Heero stood still and blinked. Duo leveled the bookcase on his back as his hands and feet supported his body up. He slowly got to his feet, still leaning forwards holding the bookcase on his back. He looked up at Heero who was standing in a complete dazed fashion.

"Um…not to get into another fight or anything, but would you mind helping me out?"

"There's a door behind that bookcase."

Duo blinked and tried to turn his head. "Where?"

"Behind that bookcase."

"Ah hell with it." Duo ran forward and into Heero, stumbling out and pinning him down to the ground. The bookcase fell to the floor behind and Duo looked backwards to the wall to a mysterious new door.

"Hey! I know that door! At least I think I do."

Heero poked his shoulder and Duo looked back down to below his face.

"Duo…get up."

"Ack! Sorry Heero." Duo stood and got up off Heero, then leant him a hand to help him up. Both boys stood there, staring at the door.

"Why would it be hiding behind a bookcase?" Duo mumbled.

"Somebody was trying to hide it." Heero mumbled as well.

Heero stepped up to the door on the back of the bookcase and tested the knob. It wouldn't even buldge.

"It's locked."

"Here, let me see it. Maybe I can fix it." Duo stepped onto the back of the bookcase.

"This shelf will break."

"No it won't. If it didn't break from us fighting and from the fall onto me, not to mention the ground afterwards, I doubt it will from us standing on it." Duo got down on his knees and peered through the keyhole. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"I can see through to the other side."

"What do you see?"

"Extreme elegance."

"Huh?" Heero looked down at Duo's backside in question.

"It's a long hallway with golden carpet, golden wallpaper, windows along the right side, a beautiful desk on the left right here to the door, I think I see a silk cushion desk chair for it, but I could be wrong…"

"Any doors?"

"Just one at the far end of the hall…it's too far to make out, but the door looks metallic from here."

Heero sighed. "My goodness."

"This is the locked area Quatre was telling me about." Duo sat back on his knees and looked up at Heero.

"Can you pick the lock?" Heero asked.

"Let me check again." Duo looked in the lock and sighed, then sat back again. "Nope; it's that old that I don't see any of the button mechanisms."

"I figured you knew how to unlock anything." Heero watched Duo stand and dust himself off.

"Yeah, I can." Duo stood up and faced Heero with a grin. "But I can't pick a lock that looks like it's from the early two millennia's."

"Where does this door take us too?"

"Quatre said it's the rest of the mansion. This is the added on section that was built on." Duo looked at Heero and slowly grinned.

"Time for an adventure, eh?"

"Duo, help me put this bookcase back up."

"Huh? Why?" Duo followed Heero off the bookcase and bend down to get a grip.

"If somebody blocked the passage way to the rest of the mansion, there's got to be a reason why they didn't want anybody else to access it."

After the two of them reset the bookcase and placed it back firmly against the wall, Heero looked at Duo and shook his head.

"Don't tell Quatre until Trowa returns."

"Why?"

"He'll need support. And besides, like I said," Heero continued as he walked up to the desk and shut off the light. Duo opened the door. Both boys left to go down the hallway with the outside windows and the bedrooms.

"If the door was hidden, there's got to be a reason."

"You know what this reminds me of?" Duo began as they turned the corner to the rooms. "A Resident Evil game, live version."

Heero stopped and smirked at him. "You're life is a video game, Duo." He shook his head. "I'll remember to give you a couple guns if we ever go exploring."

Duo grinned and gave Heero a thumbs up. "Now you're talkin'!"

Uno managed to sneak around Duo without being noticed so she wouldn't be asked as to what she's been up to lately. She was hiding in a closet. When he was out of sight, she left the closet and ran upstairs. She made it to her room before she heard Duo yappin' away on the telephone to Hildie.

She sat on her bed and looked around her room with boredom. She didn't want to train anymore—not yet, at least—and she was almost done with her third book. Uno went to her bookshelf and removed the pink book Quatre was going to trash just a couple of months before and took it down. She never understood why it was so heavy; it was only a hard cover book with four hundred pages in it.

She opened it up to the front cover, to the middle, and then to the back. She blinked when shadows hit the inside back cover a bit funny. She traced her fingers around the cover and felt it a little bumpy. It felt like something was hiding in it.

She went to her desk that Quatre had bought for her and took out her pocket knife. She sat on her bed and opened the book to the back cover again, took the knife against the edge of the book's seal, and pried open a little bit of the cover. She managed to get the rest of the blade down into the paper and pealed away as carefully as possible from the binding. She realized it was an extra piece of paper covering the back binding that somebody must have added.

When she took the paper off, she found a golden key the size of the book itself. She blinked and withdrew it from the compartment it was hiding within. It was kind of heavy, pure gold with so many shines on it; she could see her own reflection in the metal. The emblem on the top was a blue gem and it was designed rather ornate looking; it was _very_ expensive and must hold _great_ value; then why was Quatre going to trash the book?

The next couple days, Uno was kickin' butt with Wufei in the training room nine hours per daylight times. When Duo wanted to go outside and play in the snow, Uno would rather train with Wufei. When Duo wanted to play Uno video games, she would prefer to fight realistically. When Duo tried to bribe Uno into buying her more puzzles if she went with him out to hang around and drive around, she'd beg for him to reconsider another day. Duo wanted to be with her as much as possible before Relena gets her way, and Uno's already finished the puzzle box twenty-four times since she first got it, but she'd rather stay and train for that boy.

It was dinner around the end of the second week and Uno was eating lighter than what she used to eat with Duo.

"Uno? Are you feeling well?" Duo asked, worriedly.

"Wufei told me to stop eating so much."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Wufei also doesn't know that our bodies can't handle the lack of food. You'll go hungry before you fall asleep tonight. So eat up."

Uno considered this for a moment then shrugged. She grabbed another turkey leg off the plate in front of her and dug in. Wufei rolled his eyes and mumbled beneath his breath. Quatre swallowed his bite and cleared his throat while he cut another piece of carrot.

"Trowa said he'll be coming back tomorrow. The circus was canceled due to a powerful snowstorm."

"On a colony?" Duo blinked. "How is that possible?"

Heero froze in deep thought and his eyes slowly got huge.

"He said something happened to the control system in the colony. Said the repairmen found some sort of malfunction going on with the switches. He said the temperature was actually reading below zero just last night."

"Below Zero?" Wufei grew a little skeptical. "How is that possible?"

"It isn't, unless somebody manually turned it down that low." Heero looked down slowly.

"Hey, it's a machine! They're bound to break at times. Yeah, these hold people on it, but still! Maybe a spark got out of hand in the control room and they had to lower the temperature down to cool off the smoke…or fire."

"Hm." Both Heero and Wufei said in union and continued eating their meal.

"I'll check in with Une tomorrow. I have to go back to the office anyways; she has more papers for me to mess with." Wufei reached over to the vegetable plate and picked up a couple more green beans.

"So, he said he'll be coming back in tomorrow. I'll pick him up at around one in the after noon and we'll probably be back here around three. If the weather holds up, that is."

"Heero?" Duo quirked his eyes up at Heero.

"Hn?"

"You gonna' tell him now or what?"

"Tell me what?" Quatre asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Heero and I found a door in your library hidden behind a bookcase." Duo looked over to Quatre.

"Behind a bookcase? How did you find that out?"

"Well we um…uh…_attacked_…each other." Duo looked down and pushed around some of his peas.

"You mean you fought."

Duo nodded. "But when he pushed me I fell back against a bookcase and it went tumbling down with me to the floor. Heero and I found a door back there and when I looked through the key hole, the place looked magnificent. Like a palace, really."

"You found the secret passge." Quatre smiled. Wufei looked up and to everyone else.

"I can't pick the lock though. We can shoot it to get it!" Duo smiled at Quatre.

"Duo!"

"Well, we can't find the key!" Duo exclaimed.

Uno lowered her hands to her laps and bit her lips, remaining quiet.

"Duo, you can't go blasting away in my house like a raging monkey!" Duo blinked then chuckled some. "I mean, this place is older than my father!"

Duo sighed. "Well, I can't pick the lock. It's that old."

"Well then we'll need to find the key somehow." Quatre took another sip of his tea.

"I…I have the key." Uno mumbled out softly. Everybody snapped their faces in her direction. "I…I found it a couple hours ago in a book I think Quatre was about to throw away."

"Did you keep it?" Quatre asked. Uno nodded.

"It's in my room. I…I didn't tell anyone because I thought, maybe, Quatre didn't want it anymore if it was with the stack of books he was throwing away."

"So you hocked it?" Duo asked, grinning down at her. She nodded with a small pout.

"Well! I guess as soon as the weather clears up, we can all go and explore the new areas of the house." Quatre said with a cheery smile.

"Quatre…for the last time; this isn't a house! It's a mansion. Get it right." Duo joked.

"If the door was blocked, usually it means somebody didn't want it opened again." Stated Heero coldly.

"After my mother died, my father closed off that side of the mansion. That was his only reason, but I don't think there will be any wrong if I decided to open it back up again; do you?"

The following day Uno and Theresa were skipping down the sidewalk, humming to a tune both girls were coming up with. By the time they got to the park, they were alone. Theresa sat down on a swing and breathed out a long harsh breath.

"What are we going to do when that boy comes back?"

"Stand here." Uno looked down while she swung back and forth some.

"But…he'll hurt us again."

"No he won't." Uno stared at the ground while Theresa looked at her confused.

Both girls soon looked up to see a silhouette of the same boy appear in the mist, only this time he had some friends.

"Uno?" Theresa sounded worried.

Uno remained uncaring and unemotional and shut her eyes while she lowered her head.

"This could get bad."

Duo rounded the corner to the living room and smacked Heero outside the head. Heero snapped his head in the direction of Duo with a glare, only to get a glare in return. He blinked a few times.

"What?"

"Do you know where Uno is?" Duo asked, 'as a matter of factly.'

"At the park?" Heero felt like an idiot and he was loathing Duo for that.

"Uh huh; and I specifically told her not to go because the weather's getting so bad, Quatre's having trouble driving home. And that park is over a mile away."

Heero put the laptop down and stood up.

"She disobeyed your orders, I take it?"

Duo grumbled and stormed down the hallway to the coat stand. He grabbed his leather jacket and gloves and hat. Heero pulled on his coat and scarf and ear muffs. Duo looked at him and smirked.

"What?" Heero blinked.

"Nuthin'." Duo chuckled; he turned and walked out of the door. Heero followed behind.

"Your car?" He called out to Duo.

"Yeah. It's sturdy enough to go looking for them." Duo got in the car and let Heero in. When the two of them were seated and the heat was on, Duo turned on the defrost and let the engine sit for a moment.

Uno fell back into the snow from another attack on the same cheek and automatically got to her feet. Wufei had taught her that the weak will always attack first and the weaker will attack without warning. She was letting them use their energy. Theresa was on the side, shaking in the cold, the fright, and the fear that she might have to walk back to the mansion alone without Uno besides her, and she was afraid of being alone…especially in a time like this where the weather was horrible.

Uno braced herself for another attack of impact and got severally blown to the side of the face with a heavy fist. She steadied her balance some and regained her position. She would not let these three guys win the fight. One of the boys charged at her and Uno stepped out of the way, spun around, and flung him into the snow, face first. Another made his way at her but Uno was prepared and grabbed at his shirt collar, pulled him downward as her feet held him above her, and kicked him over her body. She rolled back up and looked at the heavy Hispanic kid from two weeks ago.

"You fucking bitch! I said to get away from here! This is my turf!"

"Wild words for a stupid boy; can you back them up?" Uno stated.

The boy growled. "You fucking asshole!"

"Watch it; only pussies cuss." She stated again. The boy screamed and charged at her. He presumed to strike her a few times with kicks and punches, but each time Uno had blocked and dodged it, and delivered one of her own.

By the time she was almost finished with the fight, the two side-kicks had already been knocked out and the heavy Hispanic she was still fighting was about done with. He shot his fist to her face but she quickly dodged it, grabbed it with her own, and swung it right back into his face and returned with her own hands to send him a ravaging blow to the back of his head. He leant forward and tried to catch his breath, but instead of his own health he decided to wildly punch Uno in the gut. Uno stepped back a few feet to catch her breath as he stood and walked up to her. She glared and snarled at him, screamed, then the next he saw, she was flying in the air, spinning and sending a violent kick to the side of his face with her left boot. The boy landed in the snow in a heap of unconsciousness and Uno stood there, wiping a little blood of her lower lip with the back of her right hand.

She heard a little bit of clapping from behind her and she turned around to see Duo and Heero standing there, on the sides of Theresa, watching her. Uno felt as white as the snow for the second Duo had left her stating she were to not leave the house, she ran to get Theresa and run to the park.

She knew she was in for a yelling.

After they dropped Theresa back at her house and entered the mansion, Uno was very quiet. Duo saw Quatre and Trowa and just looked back to the coat stand. Heero stepped into the living room after hanging up his coat. Duo looked at Uno.

"Go to your room; I'll be there in a minute."

Uno nodded and did as told. She turned and walked upstairs, very calmly, knowing she was in deep trouble.

"What happened?" Quatre asked.

"She disobeyed my orders." Duo stated flatly. "I specifically said for her not to go to the park, the weather is getting bad. And what did she do? Go running to the park."

"Well, be easy on her. This is her first time disobeying you, don't forget."

"Oh I can't forget; if I hadn't wondered if she were still 'napping', I wouldn't have looked for her and found her at the park. The fog was so bad you couldn't even see your feet! And that's standing on something that didn't even have any snow!" Duo cleared his throat. "Say hi to Trowa for me; I'll be down in a bit."

Duo started up the stairs and Quatre looked back down the hall. He bit his lower lip then presumed down the hallway to the living room.

"What happened?" Quatre asked Heero as he sat down besides Trowa.

"I don't see how she could have fought in this weather." Wufei looked up from his book. "You couldn't really see anything in front of you, and she managed to beat up three heavy-set boys who were pretty strong looking."

"Even in this weather?" Trowa asked. Heero nodded.

"Well, it doesn't matter much. Relena's-"

"I forgot to tell Duo. She was called out for an emergency meeting in the L3 Colony. She called me earlier on my cell phone because nobody would pick up here—as I see now, you two were out looking for Uno and Wufei hadn't gotten' home from work yet. But it was a meeting about the damage of the colony's electrical power system." Quatre mentioned.

Heero nodded. "I wonder if they'll tell her the truth."

"Which is?" Trowa asked.

"Terrorists."


	21. Hidden Secrets

* * *

(**_Notice_** as of Sept. 22, 2004: Maps are all finished. You may view them at my portal; my **HOMEPAGE **link is on my bio page. Maps are on the bottom right column - you can't miss it)

* * *

Duo's Child

Chapter 21

Duo woke up Tuesday afternoon and practically dragged himself out of bed. His head ached, his stomach grumbled, his breath stank. Above all, he felt like he weighed a ton.

After Duo did his usual ordeal every morning in the bathroom, he changed his clothing and proceeded down the stairs. By the time he reached the bottom step, he heard the television on. When he went into the living room, he found Uno playing Heero a video game—and amazingly kicking his ass—Quatre sitting and watching, and a pile of food on the coffee table. His eyes locked onto the food.

"Good morning, Duo. Sleep good?" Quatre asked, smiling at Duo.

"Food." Duo grumbled. His stomach grumbled soon after and he sat besides the table. Before Quatre could have a chance to protest, Duo reached over and grabbed a handful of cookies. He began stuffing his mouth.

"Well, they _were_ for the meeting I have later on, but I guess I can bring some tea…again." Quatre said, putting away the saran wrap. "How did you sleep?"

"Like the dead!" Duo replied with so much food in his mouth, you couldn't understand him.

Quatre sweat dropped. "Lovely. Listen…Duo."

"Yeah?" Duo asked, pigging out on cookies.

"Um…about Relena's time with Uno—"

"No." Duo snapped up at Quatre.

"But Duo—"

"No!" Duo growled. "I'm not letting her have Uno as a Barbie Doll! Not in my lifetime, and believe me, I'm harder to kill than she is!"

"I can vouch for that." Heero stated flatly.

"Heero, you're not helping."

"Quatre, why not ask Uno if she wants to spend time with her?" Uno looked up at Duo when the game ended. "What do you say, Uno? Stay with Relena?"

Uno blinked up at him. "Who's she?"

"That girl you met when Quatre had his meeting." Duo replied.

"No!" Uno shouted and hugged at her braid. Heero smirked at her actions.

Duo grinned up at Quatre. "See my point? The trend carries."

"Uno, why don't you like her?" Quatre asked.

"She scares me!" Uno pouted. "She's got a big head and a big face and is always staring at me. I think she's going to eat me!" Uno shuddered at the thought of remembering when she first met Relena and how Relena had looked like she was going to eat Uno.

Heero laughed out loud. Duo smirked, but when he heard Heero's laughter, stopped and stared in silence at the Perfect Soldier. He was actually _laughing_!

"Well, I guess that'll do." Quatre dropped his head in his hands.

"So Quatre, when are we going to go exploring the house?" Duo asked, changing the topic.

"Don't you mean the _mansion_?" Quatre smirked, turning Duo's words around on him.

Duo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever man. So, when?"

Quatre shrugged. "I have to first see if my meeting is still going to go on today. The Chancellor is kind of sick, so the meeting might cancel."

'Hey, isn't it true that if you disappeared, the entire committee would fall?" Duo pondered up into the air above.

Quatre blinked and looked down quietly. "They do pretty much run off of my schedule and plans. But I don't think they'll perish if I died."

"It more than likely depends." Heero interrupted with his bit of information. "If Quatre had died before sending word out to the rest of the committee, then yes, they would fall and the board of the Earth Sphere would begin to fall as well."

Heero's words left a quiet room. Uno stood up and stretched.

"I wanna' go eat." She looked down at Duo, who had obvisoully eaten' up all the cookies.

Duo nodded. "Same here." He stood and picked up Uno. Uno giggled, hugged Duo's neck, then the two went into the kitchen.

"When do you wish to explore what Duo and I had found?"

Quatre sighed. "I guess…let me contact the Chancellor and tell everyone that the meeting is off. I _have_ been feeling kind of weary lately. I guess it's because of too much work."

Uno was digging in her black trunk Hildie had given' her. She had placed the trunk at the foot of her bed and stuffed so much in there that it was hard to find whatever she was looking for…like a certain key to open and unlock a hidden world. She was grumbling by the time she reached the base of the trunk and found the little black box she kept it in. She sat back and looked at it, smiling, then stood up and ran out of the room.

Wufei was walking out of the first floor hallway when Uno nearly landed on top of him from the second floor. He stopped and blinked down at her. She smiled up at him, grabbed his hand, and intended to pull him into the living room.

After a moment of struggling, she realized she hadn't moved and her socks were slippery. She looked back at Wufei as he just stood there, smirking at her.

"Would you like me to follow you?" Wufei had asked. Uno growled and nodded her head, her braid flipping around.

When Uno had reached the living room where the rest of the group was supposed to be waiting, Wufei tapped her on the shoulder and whispered into her ears.

"I believe they are waiting for you in the library."

Uno stood there and blinked a few times. She looked up at him and glared him.

"Oh shut up." She spat her tongue out and ran down the hallway. Wufei smirked and followed behind.

When she entered the library and saw everyone else in there, she handed Duo her little black box.

"Ah, so this is that box you were telling me you found outside." Duo took it and looked at it. Uno nodded. The box was palm sized and a typical cigarette box you can find in stores. When Duo opened the box, he saw a deck of Hentai playing cards. Duo blinked at them and took out the first one, showing it to Uno.

"What are you doing with these?" He asked, nicely and calmly as possible. Heero blinked at the card and smirked.

Uno smiled. "Ricky gave them to me. He said he already had a pack but his brother gave him another one."

"…Do you know what this is?" Duo asked, still as nice as before. Quatre was biting his lower lip, trying not to smile. Uno nodded her head.

"Hentai." She smiled up at him.

"And do you know what Hentai is?" Duo asked, still trying to remain calm, but struggling now.

Uno nodded again, her braid flipping around.

"What?" He asked.

"Porno." She smiled.

Quatre dropped his head in his hands, his face entirely red. Trowa shut his eyes and smirked, chuckling somewhat. Heero was watching Uno and wondering—as well as Duo—how she knew about porno at such a young age.

They both found out and felt stupid at her response.

"You and Heero read it all the time; what's wrong if I read it then?" Uno blinked up at Duo, curious. Duo blinked and became at a loss of words.

"I uh…eh-let's just pretend I didn't see these cards." Duo took them out and handed them to Heero. Heero looked at the cards some then placed them on the window ledge. Duo then removed the thin sheet of black painted wood out from inside the box and found the jewel designed key. He lifted up the key and looked at it as he placed the box back down on the table.

The key was heavy and gold. There was a magnificent blue emblem on the top of the crest that looked like a fountain. The key around the emblem looked ornate, very much posh compared to Duo's tastes. Duo turned it around some, blinking at it, then handed it over to Quatre.

"That is some key." Duo said.

Quatre looked at the key and shrugged. "I guess my father loved class more than I thought."

Quatre stepped up to the door, leant over, and inserted the key into the lock. It went right in without a problem, as if it were waiting centuries for the door to be opened. He pushed it all the way in before turning the key and hearing a loud _clicking_ noise, that seemed to have echoed through the entire room; it also echoed through the hallway on the other side of the wall. Quatre finished turning the key and grabbed the doorknob. It opened perfectly fine and when he pushed the heavy mahogany door aside, the little library was suddenly greeted by an unusual sight. Strong winds of cold air blew in from the hallway, which had a very distinct smell of fragranced flowers. The colors of the room were yellow gold with opal, striped and extremely high class.

Quatre stepped in first. A huge window stood besides him and looked out upon the backyard, a tall rose hedge was on the side of the yard. The hallway spanned about a hundred feet or so, nothing lengthening the room except for a beautiful desk besides the library door, many windows on the right, and another mahogany door at the end of the hall. The floors were of a golden yellow barber carpet; the walls were papered with striped yellow gold and opal white; it reflected the sun in a tremendous fashion. The ceiling was high glossy white and sparkled down at the six characters as they stepped into the room. Beautiful gold and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling every twenty-five feet.

Duo looked up and around then whistled. Quatre was in a daze. Trowa was looking around the hallway and out the windows while Heero walked down the hall to the door at the opposite end; he found it locked. Wufei stepped up to him.

"Quatre's father must have spent a fortune keeping this house up." Wufei mumbled. Heero nodded.

"Quatre…I had no idea you were _this_ rich." Duo said in aw.

"I had no clue!" Quatre was entirely shocked. Uno stepped into the hallway and looked out the window.

Quatre stepped up to the desk. There was a small dressing chair beneath it; its cushion patterned with the same fabric of that of the hallway walls. He sat down on the chair, instantly feeling the comfort as if the chair had never been sat upon. Trowa stepped up to him from behind and looked at the desk. It had no scratches on it; nothing was mismatched. There was a small tiffany lamp in the corner with parchment in the center; a feather pen lay on the side of the side next to an enclosed case of ink. Quatre checked the drawers of the desk and found a note neatly folded up in the center drawer. He withdrew it, shut the drawer, and turned around in the chair. When he read the first couple lines, he nearly wanted to faint.

His father had written him a letter.

"Quatre, what's on the note?" Duo had asked. Uno held on to Duo's hand and Duo rubbed her back.

It took a few moments for Quatre to catch his breath before he was able to continue on.

"It-it's from my father." Quatre felt his breath get stuck in his throat and he coughed a little. "It reads:

_Quatre_

_Well, I guess the day has come that you have finally found the key and the door I have secretly hid. Behind the door, lays an entirely new world for you; some of which you may never care to know…other's you would rather not know._

_I had enclosed the mansion off after your mother's death. I have built on the section you are currently living in so I wouldn't have to explain the reasons for ever having to leave. The loss of her body and soul was too much for me to handle so I simply made a choice to lock away the memory and run from the pain. When you fled to fight in the war, I then realized that you may have the courage to openly unlock the mystery behind the Security door at the other end of the hall._

_Yes, Quatre, the door opposite than the one you have entered is the main Security room for the entire mansion. This house wasn't built by my idea. It was built for a man whom you had never known about; a man who was able to change the future of his time before the world had its pacifist leader. His name was Jonathon Howard Blassimeer; he was a wonderful man._

_Like you, he fought in the Federation Wars as a normal pilot of an enemy mobile suit. I had lived in a flat up in the college town of __L4__; I was in study of becoming the governmental icon you saw me the as. I was outside of the flat, taking care of some business, when an enemy soldier ran up to me; he looked like he was in great pain so I helped him up to my flat and cared for his wounds. He told me he some how survived the explosion of his mobile suite and I told him that Allah may have wanted him to change. I let him stay for as long as he needed until he could gain back his strength; I helped an enemy of the colonies from being killed._

_During the three weeks he stayed with me, I learned about his life as he had learned about mine. We spoke about common differences between the two of us and shared a good time. I must truly say a man is not an enemy until they join sides with the devil; Jonathon was only misguided. I told him to not return to the battlefield as he so desired to, and told him that if Allah had let him live from that explosion, then surely he had wanted him to change the ways of the world. I told him to not return, and instead, seek out those on this colony who may help him. I explained that no matter what he does, he is forever an ally of this colony._

_He admired my courage in taking in an enemy soldier and admired even more that I had taken the time out of my busy schedule to attend to his wounds and talk with him as a friend. He took my advice, fled from the Earth as I had told him to stay here, and he had found the answer he was looking for._

_He had met Heero Yuy and he had told me the man was more than the idol you fight for today. He had explained things to the pacifist leader that were unknown to him at that time; it was Jonathon Howard Blassimeer that had offered the deal for Heero Yuy to carry out with the wishes of becoming the pacifist leader._

_In response to helping him out, Jonathon had sent me a letter with a key. He stated that he had thanked my kindness and concern for taking him in when he needed it the most and befriending a man who was misguided. He had liked sharing the thoughts that counted between humans instead of the knowledge and admired my courage. He had sent me a key saying that I may take his mansion as a gift for my kindness; the mansion was built by his fifth great grandfather and was passed down through generations until it went to him. He had decided to give it to me as a token of our friendship._

_It was the end of the week, only four days later, when the news media stated his body was found assassinated in the enemy cells of who he used to fight for._

_Quatre__, my dear boy, the day has finally come that I can give you this same very key he had given me and pass the heirloom down to you. Do not fear the rest of the mansion as many parts of it you will not like. Blassimeer's former relatives dealt with other wars such as your own and used the mansion as a fort, which is why you will see Security Check rooms and Weapon Check rooms through out the mansion and the entire Court Yard a giant maze. His former family had great ranks in the Federation Wars and had many members of the facilities living within this mansion. They held the captured in the Medieval Wing, worked in the __Technology__Center__, and even trained in the Military Wing._

_Inside the Security Room at the end of this hall, you will see technology that the wars you fought in did not have. You will find maps that show the entire mansion and all of its attributes. You will find things out that you may have never thought possible. Please do not get lost within these walls; it is a very huge mansion and tempting to run off within._

_Quatre__, my son.__ I wish I could be with you now, but fate has pulled us apart. I have done my share of work and Allah had decided I was finished. Please stay in good health and remember who you are._

_Your father_

Quatre had trouble breathing and started to shake.

"My father…he…he was expecting all of this." Quatre felt light headed and luckily, Trowa was behind him so he could lean into his friend.

"Quatre…are you sure you want to look around?" Trowa asked, concerned for Quatre's health.

Quatre nodded. "Yes; my father handed this mansion down to me. I have to see what lies beneath the other door." Quatre stood up, put the note back in the desk, and started walking down the hallway. He inserted the same key into the lock at the door at the end of the hall and opened it. This time, there was a loud metallic clicking noise that echoed through out the hall. When the door opened, all they saw was a black room. Quatre, being the one in charged of the house, took a deep breath before stepped his foot through the door. Instantly, a switch he stepped up lit up the entire room and Quatre was taken aback when he saw the endless rows of computers spanning the sides of the room. Monitors were lined up all along the walls, each shut entirely off. In the center of the room stood a humongous column with monitors entirely surrounding it. Heero stepped into the room and looked around. Duo and Uno gawked at the electronics. Wufei and Trowa stood staring at the many monitors that were shut off.

"Quatre…what did your dad say that guy did for a living?" Duo asked, looked at the keyboards, switches, keys, and buttons that lined up all along the vast square room. The ceiling was metallic with recessed lights. The metallic floors sounded each footstep.

"I have never seen a room like this before; even in Oz." Duo blinked around.

Heero stepped up to a rack with walkie-talkies and other technical items. Trowa stepped up to a computer panel in the center of the right side of the room. He looked around at the switches.

"There's a switch that say power. Should I push it?" Quatre stepped up to Trowa. He nodded. When Trowa opened the glass case it was hiding behind and pushed the button, all the monitors in the room flashed on at the same time and went to static. The computers booted up and the room started to sound like an engine room. Trowa shut the glass case and when he did, the computer screen besides him flashed on and read 'enter' on the monitor. Following orders, Trowa hit enter on the keyboard and the screen started booting up.

"What's it doing?" Duo had asked.

"It's warming up and taking in the many absent years it was shut off." Heero stepped up to them.

"How do you know that?" Duo asked, growling.

"Because the binary codes are counting the years from now, backwards, to when it was last shut off." Duo sweat-dropped; he forgot Heero could read just about any computer language.

When the computer finished loading, the room itself seemed to become alive as each computer started to activate its response systems and terminal lodgings; it was updating itself.

"System malfunction." A female voice rang out. Quatre spun around to the center column and took a look at the monitor and single keyboard hanging from the bottom of the screen.

"System malfunction. To repair and return to previous load, please hit enter. To abort, please shut down security system. To ask for help, please turn on voice activation."

Duo blinked. "Voice activation?"

Quatre stepped up to the monitor and looked around. Trowa walked around the room and found a door opposite from the one they had entered. Wufei turned around to the heavy machine box standing behind him; there were dozens of switches all over it—it looked like the system's server and connection devices. Heero pointed Quatre to the switch a few feet down from the power button Trowa pushed. Quatre walked over to it and hit it.

"Voice activation on." The female voice spoke again.

Trowa looked over to the wall in front of him, the left wall when they entered the room, and noticed it was the only wall without monitors. There were computers below it, but the entirely wall was bland. He looked closer and found the entire wall _was_ the monitor. He smirked.

"Tricky devil." Trowa mumbled.

"Um…could you please explain the System malfunction." Quatre asked kindly. Duo gave him a goofy look and smirked.

"Even to a machine, Quatre's as sweet as he can be."

"Registering voice activation. Please state your name."

"Quatre Raberba Winner."

After a few moments of silence, the voice returned.

"Quatre Raberba Winner," it sounded like Quatre's voice only it had a machine echoe to it. "Welcome." Quatre smiled. "System malfunction. The machine was turned off thirty-six years ago and must repair itself to work properly."

"What happened?" Quatre asked.

"Machine outdates every four years and updates itself to its current state."

"Oh..." Quatre felt kind of new at the house again.

"Repair and return to previous load?"

"Yes."

"Activating system occurrence." The voice disappeared and suddenly, all the computers, screens, monitors—everything—turned itself on and the static disappeared. The system repaired itself, quiet loudly as well, and soon everyone could see the monitors showing something from all over the mansion; they were security cameras. After a couple minutes of repairing itself, the huge screen Trowa was looking at a moment ago turned on and displayed a current map of the mansion.

"Satellites indicate new changes were made to the Blassimeer mansion. Update senses?"

"Yes." Quatre replied.

"Updating senses." Everyone stood still and watched as a 3Dimensional view—and life like as well—spun around on the screen and showed every angel and attribute of the entire mansion. For the first time, Quatre was able to see what his house had really looked like and agreed with Duo, this was truly as big as a castle.

"Updating senses, complete."

Duo stepped up to a machine in the corner of the room left from when they entered.

"Hey Quatre…what's this?" Duo had asked. In response, the machine answered.

"The recording box is a machine that records each known event it spots throughout the entire mansion and labels it when the tape is finished." Duo sweat-dropped and looked up at the screen.

"You can speak to me like you have your own brain?"

"Yes." Duo sweat-dropped again and felt entirely stupid just then.

"Okay then!" Duo looked to the empty case besides it. "Then why don't you have any taped occurrences?"

"They were erased for explicit purposes. My sources indicate that there are six people present in this room and living in this mansion. Is this true?"

"Yes." Quatre answered.

"Calculating voice activations. Please state your name."

"Huh?" Duo looked over at Quatre.

"Heero Yuy."

"…Um…I guess," Duo looked up at the screen where it looked like it was recording each members voice. "Duo Maxwell." He stood proud.

"Trowa Barton."

"Wufei Chang."

"Quatre Raberba Winner."

Duo knelt down to Uno. "Your turn sweet heart."

"Uno Maxwell." Uno answered.

The machine rerecorded each member's voice.

"Voice activation complete."

"Hey Quatre," Duo handed Heero a walkie-talkie. "Let's all keep in touch so none of us gets lost. Okay?"

Quatre nodded. "Good idea. I'll stay here and help you out if you do get lost. Somebody has to be back here to make sure nothing bad happens and to give out the ideas incase one of us gets lost."

"Great…so…what happens now?" Duo asked, handing Uno a walkie-talkie.

"Me?" Uno asked.

"Yeah…you can handle yourself." Duo smirked. "Besides, nobody's here so you're safe."

"Here." Heero stepped up to Uno and handed her his old gun he had throughout the wars.

Uno and Duo blinked.

"You're giving her a gun?!" Duo snapped.

"Incase anything_ does _happen."

Uno took the gun and smiled. "Thanks."

"Safety's on." Heero stated before going to the other door.

Uno nodded.

"Oiy...great…now I'll be having two of you running around like insane people." Duo grumbled and followed Heero.

All but Heero entered the door on the left of the room. Quatre turned to look at him in question.

"Heero?"

"I'm going to check out that door." Heero stepped up to a door practically hidden behind switches and opened it up.

"Alright! Take care!" Quatre waved off. When both doors shut, he faced the big monitor again.

"Please mark each person's routine."

"Calculating markings." The screen split into five boxes, each showing the cameras filming a particular area. All but Heero were on each one; he was on his own.

"Man, this place is HUGE!" Duo look around to the couches and chairs placed in the seating area of what is supposed to be another living quarter. "Where are we again?" Duo turned to face Trowa.

"You're in the original living quarters." Duo sweat-dropped when Quatre's voice came from the walkie-talkie on his belt. "The hallway we originally came from was once an old game room."

Uno continued walking and turned right at the closest corner. She stopped and found a closed wooden door. Breathing deep and checking the safety on her new gun, she proceeded towards the door. When she opened it, she was brought on by a wave of fresh air and a mix of mold and dust. Part of her wanted to sigh in relief while another part wanted to throw up in disgust.

Wufei continued walking to the opposite end of the long hallway and found a staircase at the end of the room. He thought about checking it out, but decided against it when he found a door hidden behind the case and in the corner of the back and right wall. Grabbing hold of his sheathed sword, he opened the door and stepped inside. The only thing that came to mind was noticing the dark and dreary walls of a long hallway that curved right at the end.

Duo stretched and walked away from Trowa. He turned right at the next hallway as Uno had and dragged his feet towards the door.

"Hey Trowa, you take this place, alright? I'll go check to see what's behind this door."

"Alright Duo. Be careful out there." Trowa was looking at the plasma screen television encarved into the wall above a fire place. The prices this Blassimeer man must have paid could have probably bought out the entire colonies and planet both!

Deciding to continue, Trowa walked around the first floor to find three bedrooms and bathrooms, a small kitchen and a small dining room. Looking around at the walls, at its lush white carpet and rich yellow-gold striped wall paper, he found the staircase at the end. Going up stairs, he found a piano room at the far end of the entire wing, a bunch of artist and play rooms, and a second living room. He smirked and pressed his hands to his hips as he stood in the middle of the living room. The place was magnificent to say the least. He was going to enjoy living here even more, now that he knows what lies behind the hidden secret library door.

Wufei carefully walked down the hallway in a disturbed mood. The first door that was to his right that he went through was a showcase of holding cells and the room after that was a torture chamber showcase. Deciding not to follow through the third door, he returned to the original hallway he entered and continued to walk down the curved hallway. An entire row of doors lined his right side while different hallways lined his left. As he entered each door on his right, he found they were all bedrooms. A room at the end caught his attention as it was the Knight Room. He followed the door on the corner of the place and came out to a hallway, which later led to a range for target practice—archery target practice, that is. He followed more doors until he found the weapon room—which had numerous weapons man kind had _ever_ seen, including the pieces of the original RX-78 Gundam from centuries ago when colonies were first created. He found a library and unfortunately read a few of the titles; they made him sick to his stomach.

By the time he managed to reach the second floor without vomiting from the information he found in the books, he was greeted by nearly a dozen bedchambers for workers who had apparently lived in this wing at some time. He took in a deep breath and began walking down the long narrow hallway, counting up all the rooms until he came to a stop at the end of the hall. He counted fourteen rooms, each holding six beds, and a very large bathroom at the end of the hall. He returned to the front of the hall and followed the left wall around to two more doors. The first, turned out to be a sanitizing room; probably where they washed off all the distress from the day's work. The last was a humongous room with hardly anything for decoration. A neon green switch glittered in the dark from besides the door and when Wufei flipped the switch, was greeted with absolutely nothing save for several chairs, each lined up with chains bolted to the floor.

"What kinds of people were these?" Wufei turned off the lights and shut the door firmly.

When he returned to the first floor, he noticed a staircase in the far corner of his eyes, hiding in the dark shadows of the showcase room of the holding cells. Wondrous as to what it could lead to, considering he just witness several disturbing things already, he reentered the showcase rooms and proceeded downstairs…to the basement. The second he landed on the bottom step and then to the floor, the stench of rotting skin and dried blood reached his nostrils. Slowly, he stepped down the tiny make-shift hallway, watching as light flickered across the walls and wavered in firey dances.

"The mansion must have gas-lit torches." Wufei mumbled to himself.

When he turned the corner, it hit him then that this mansion wasn't just an innocent house anymore. What he thought was disturbing to him before was merely a child's book verses a real monster. The room was large, larger than the confinement room where he found the chained chairs. He stepped only three feet into the room and already wished he had never taken this route. To his left was a long hallway of holding cells, many with encrusted blood soaked into the bars. Something, however, caught his eye and forced him to take a few extra steps down that hall. Wufei stopped among the first door when he found a skeleton—still in tact—sprawled out across one of the many benches. His heart paced up, his body chilled to an icy touch, his blood ran cold. Wanting to run away, but having curious feet, cursed him into returning to the torture chamber and taking a closer look at everything. Rotting corpses were still in position compared to where they were as they died. Some stretched out on tables, some with spikes ground out through their bodies. One crunched up in a hanging cell above the entire room. The walls were scraped with weapon dents and cuts along with finger nails, smeared with old blood, marked on by—apparently scientists who have tried several things on human beings.

Wufei felt like he was in hell. When he was about to turn around, a final door grabbed his attention and, even though he saw enough to stray him away from battles for good, saw fit to seek out this door as well. He stepped up to it and looked at a mechanic switch on the side. It was paneled and when he pressed the button, the mechanic door slid up with a loud hum. When it lifted, dust fell from the ceiling and he found just how dark it was dark it was inside. He took a small step forward and nearly slid down as the ground tilted at an unusual steep slope that only lasted two feet before letting off completely. Grunting in pain, Wufei grabbed hold of a railing on the side of the wall and pulled himself to his feet. He looked up and saw a red light on the wall. When he managed to get his hand on it, he turned on the lights and found what he was about to fall down into. He hung there and looked down below him to about fifty feet from the ledge he fell from. It was solid, but covered and filled with bones. Skeletons of all sorts: humans, animals, you name it. But it was mostly humans; that scared him enough. Whimpering with fear and pain, panicking from nearly falling, Wufei pulled himself up to the ledge and hoisted himself up. Grabbing hold of the door's edge, he pulled himself to the floor's level. Quickly, he slammed his hand against the panel switch and took off running out of the Medieval Wing.

He was going to _kill_ Quatre for deciding on touring the unseen parts of the mansion, and he won't need this Medieval Wing to help.

Duo was just about disgusted with classical music by the time he went through the door leading him to the Western Wing. The Classical Wing constantly played music made by orchestras and symphonies so much, he was about to want kill Quatre's violin and Trowa's flute the next time he hears them play. Duo stopped when he saw the door to his left. It looked like the entrance to a Saloon. And when he went in, found it _was_ the entrance to a Saloon. Duo grinned and stuffed his hands in his front pockets as he walked up to the bar. There was a mirror all along the back wall with countless drinks lined along the shelves.

"Well I'll be damned. This bar's got just about all the drinks I recken I know of." Duo spoke with a hick accent. He paused and blinked then leant over the polished bar. "Even some drinks I _haven't_ heard of."

He turned around and looked around the room. Poker tables and little eating tables with chairs, a piano in one corner with a dance floor right besides it. This Saloon had it all. Duo grinned and walked out of the room. He'd found himself a new best friend; after all, Quatre said it _is_ healthy to drink a little wine a day, he just didn't say what kind. He found the room across from the Saloon was a large office with loads of filing cabinets listed of data entries and guns. There was a weapon room at the far left turn of the hallway, which led to the gun range; he'd have to tell Heero about that place. When he took a look at all the weapons, all the guns placed in the racks, he never knew there were so many rifles. This mansion had at least two of everything! He exited the gun range and proceeded to the door across from him. When he found it, he wished he hadn't. Everywhere were animals, big and little, on flight and in swim, standing or hanging there, staring at him. Thousands of eyes were watching his every second. Duo stepped into the room. A huge tiger stood with his teeth bared, staring at the front door to the room. A baby tiger bared it teeth to the back door. Duo went to that back door, silently, and prepared for what was next to come. Unfortunately, when he opened it, the stench of blood rose to his nose. The room was filled with fake eyes and utensils for taxidermy. There were no other doors. Duo wanted to stay in the room longer, but the sickness was filling him up so he spun around and shut the door after he left. He took a deep breath and relaxed as he looked at the fish hanging on the wall. The man living here enjoyed fishing, but he also enjoyed the excitement of a wild hunt. Duo stepped up to a large stuffed black panther. He blinked.

"Weren't these almost extinct?" He looked down and read the label. "Black African Panther. AC 52."

Duo looked back up into the poor creature's fake eyes. "Son-of-a-bitch had a family of murders." He stroked his hand over the animals head. "Poor thing."

It was about an hour and half later when Duo finally left the dead animal room. He walked around and read all the labels of everything in there. Most of the animals were killed right out of Africa; a few from the states. One very-in-particular Blue Jay and Dove combo wad taken right out of his home-town colony; those creatures alone were extremely rare because the scientists were only able to make so many mate. Slowly dragging his feet down the hallway and past another security check room, he turned and went up the staircase to his left. He blinked when he reached the top step and look around over the banister. All the doors looked the same. He went to each one and counted up one closet, six bed chambers each holding four beds, two big bathrooms, and a semi-small closet.

Duo yawned, feeling suddenly tired and wanting to relax in one of the rooms, but decided on touring more first. He went back down stairs and headed down the hallway towards a black door.

Uno replaced the Book of Gods back into its slot on the self and continue looking up at all the shelves. Apparently the Classical Wing's library showed more than just encyclopedias and fiction. She stepped up to one of the doors to the room and looked at a huge fountain in the middle of the reading section. It was magnificent, gold trim with a crimson tile, a beautiful angel placed on top of it all, holding a container of some sorts, spilling the water into the pool of the fountain. She liked looking at it because it made her feel comfortable; she no longer felt like the only girl in the entire mansion anymore.

Uno stepped up closer to the fountain and read the description placed at the feet of the Goddess. It read:

_Through beauty and love, my glory shall pour across the seas and oceans of the world, in the name of Aphrodite._

Uno smiled at the phrase. She looked back up to the statue and felt more relaxed. Even when this side of the mansion was in secret, the fountain was still in working condition; either that, or it just turned back on when they reactivated the power. Uno shrugged and left the library. Besides a dozen book cases, the beautiful fountain, and some security and weapon check room, the place was empty. In the hallway, she started heading towards the open space before her when a door to her left shined of turquoise, jade, and emerald. It caught her eye and therefore she went inside. When she did, the lights automatically turned on by themselves and she was overwhelmed by the sight. A grand piano sat before her. On the opposite end of the long stretched room were several dozen other instruments, some of which she knows about and _many_ other's she has never seen before. Placed in the middle and around the rim of the room were elegantly designed cushioned couches and chairs. A magnificent chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling, smaller versions of that same design hung from the walls. The wall paper was rich; gold and a very light shade of pink. The floors were tiled antiquely with a nice shade of jade and pearl.

Uno walked towards the center of the room and spun around with her arms wide open. She was enjoying everything about the mansion and all its hidden secrets. The people who have owned the place must have been quite enormous with their load of cash; after all, they liked to show it off. When she exited through the doors at the end of the room, she found the sudden appearance has changed a small amount. There were still beautiful couches around her with elaborate coffee tables and lamps, but the flooring was back to the gold barber carpet from that of the hallway. She walked around the corner of the wall and found it was from the hallway; this was a sitting area. Uno sighed and tried the next couple doors. She found a wonderfully decorated office and a bathroom fit for a king. She returned to the hallway and pushed her fists against her hips. Sighing and smirking, she stared up at the pearl staircase and jaded steps. This mansion was even more amazing than it appeared on the outside.

Taking each step one at a time, being extra cautious about leaving marks or scratches, she made her way up to the second floor. Upon landing, she found the same decorated walls and floors as a wide and spacious hallway circled around the staircase balcony. Cushioned couches and tables were placed at random places adjoining with each other; another seating area. The doors lining around the hallway all looked the same typical brown, but as she stepped up to them, found they were trimmed with gold. She found six bedrooms and four bathrooms. Each bedroom had four beds and each decorated elaborately. Each bathroom was elegantly designed for royalty, fit for a king.

Upon checking the last door, following the circular pattern of the hallway, Uno found herself in what appeared to be the statue room. More beautifully sculpted people were standing in formations around the room. It looked like the statue from the fountain in the library belonged here. Each statue also appeared to _be_ a fountain piece; probably was able to switch out with the Aphrodite one downstairs. Uno stepped up to the biggest and largest statue she had ever seen. It was set sternly in the middle of the room, bolted to the floor so obviously it wasn't capable of moving to the library. The man was greatly enormous. His arms were bulky and one lifted high over his head; well above four to six feet for Uno's height. He looked serious and angry in his face. His body was built rather muscular; it looked like a towel was draped over his shoulder and wrapped around his waist.

Uno looked down to the mans feet and read the inscription. It stated:

_Lightening will strike, thunder will boom, but rain will never help cease my wrath._

Uno blinked at him and looked up at his balled fist above his head. It was gripping tightly onto a lightening bolt. Uno swallowed back the spit stuck in her throat and slowly turned around to leave the room. The Classical Wing was elegant, yes, but filled with mystery that she wasn't understanding.

Wufei kept his eyes shut for more than the hour he took upon the floor outside the Medieval Wing; at least he returned to the original living quarters where no thought to the horror's he had just witness could be seen. He sighed heavily. He should have listened to his instincts when he found the library and the books in there. The Book of the Dead, The Encyclopedia of Human Anatomy, The Dictionary of Human Diseases, Epidemics, and Viruses—he was used to things like that; but seeing things like The Instructional Usage of Human Depository, Ethical Uses of Human Bodies, and the worst he's seen yet, Autopsy on Live Creations.

Wufei shuttered. Quatre was certainly going to get it for this. True, Wufei stumbled across the wing on his _own_ doing, but even Duo wouldn't have enjoyed seeing what he had. Hell, at least _he_ had enough balance to grab himself before he fell into the pit of the unknown with body parts and skeletons of what-_used_-to-be-alive, down below the earth's surface. He knew for a fact that Duo would have slipped and fallen and still be down there hours later when they were resting from this touring.

He also wanted to kill Quatre for making them all do this because that little stumble had caused him to scrape his leg and rip his clothes. Quatre will get it from him later. He was certain of it.

Heero put the MG40 back on the rack with the rest of the set. He spent the last four hours looking closely at every gun, rifle, cannon, you-name-it listed in the entire Military Wing. A few times he decided to take some of them and try them out with the Gun Range. He found the usual cop issue Beretta was just like another gun when he shot with Colt S.A.A. He even shot it like the old western cowboys shot it; on the side with his opposite hand poppin' the trigger.

Heero shoot his head grinning as he stepped back out into the hallway. A much larger weight room was across from the Gun Range and Gun Room; he found out when he opened the door and flipped on the switch. The same machinery was in here that Quatre had in the newer room, but more of it; as in, the rest of the set. It looked like an actual military camp. A metallic door set along the wall to the left of where he entered and when he stepped through, found it to be the gymnasium. He smirked knowing Trowa would be just as pleased as he about training Uno in a better, higher quality facility than the one Quatre had running for them. It actually looked like an Olympic set right here inside Quatre's mansion.

Heero left the Gymnasium and Weight room and stepped through a door across the hallway. Greenish-brown wooden bookcases lined along the walls and in the center of the room. He walked down the isles and read a few of the titles. Obvisoully the section had only true facts and information because there were no fictional stories listed.

Heero took down a book off the shelf labeled, The End of Tomorrow. He skimmed through it and found it was written just before the Zeon wars. He looked back to the cover letters of the book and read the date. Just as he had thought; Universal Century 79. He replaced the book slowly while thinking to himself. He then proceeded to walk up and down the isles reading random titles of the books. Wars to Rags; Fight, Flight, or Fright; The Horrors of Humanity; Machine or Man? Heero questioned the last book and took it off the shelf. Machine or Man appeared to be about a nameless company trying to turn humanity into machines; unfortunately they did not succeed and destroyed all evidence of the fact.

He shook his head and replaced the book again. Upon exiting the room out of a door near the back of the wall, a big flag fell against his face. He shut the door behind himself and stepped in, letting the flag fall back into place, then spun around to look at were he just was. The library door was hidden behind the Earth's flag.

Heero smirked. How unusual considering _should_ anything happen, all the suspect would have to do is run out of the office room and circle around to the library room, considering they were only a few yards apart. There was a bunch of maps hanging on the wall across from the big mahogany desk. The one in front was of Earth and several behind of the different countries on the planet. After the seventh map—don't forget there were about twenty-five or more hanging—he found maps of the colonies, exits and entrances, routines that he, _himself_, did not think existed, and even airline shafts that were not used except for emergency purposes. This man had everything in preparation incase a war broke out, and yet Master Winner had talked him out of it.

Heero left the room and stepped up to a door around the corner of his right. Besides a bathroom with a small, almost hidden doorway and the secret passage from the library to the office, he found nothing unusual about this room. The next door he walked into was the door leading to what he would be sending Uno to for a long time; a true military style, training and obstacle room. It looked very much like the one he had to train with when he was younger, only more completed. He didn't feel like he had to explore the room just yet; let it be a surprise to him and Uno at a later day. Instead, he retreated to the hallway and went upstairs.

When he stopped upon the last step and looked around, his awareness went up completely. The place looked abandoned, but then again the whole house was. He shook his head and looked at each door, counting up a total of seven bedrooms each with eight bunk beds in side, and one large bathroom. This Blassimeer man knew about military bunking; each room looking like it was in some metallic dome-shaped building from the Army. The last, and cornered door, he entered was a weapon room. It displayed the same weapons he played with downstairs, only one of each this time with not even nearly half the ammunition.

He returned downstairs and continued down the long hallway he entered several hours before.

Duo leaned against the arcade wall of the Music Wing in sighed deeply. For the past hour and half he'd been playing arcade video games in Quatre's own home! He was more in love with this mansion than he used to be. The first thing he saw when he entered the doors of the Music Wing were the glassy arcade doors that said, 'ARCADE' written in big red letters.

He exited the arcade and proceeded to the door he passed up upon walking in original direction. The door was black and it said 'Photo Shoot' on the glass window. Stepping inside, he found numerous cameras lined up along the wall with a rack of infinite numbers of back drops to choose from. He stepped up to a computer and touched the screen. It flipped through all the images just recently taken and finally went to the main screen. He smirked as he went down the category list of options to take pictures of. Babies, friends, custom; there were countless sections. He scrolled down until he found a section he wasn't planning on seeing.

"Pornography?" Duo clicked the topic and looked at all the images taken for that shoot. It was packed.

"God…this Blassimeer guy was pretty popular with the ladies." Duo clicked on the Playboy and Penthouse subtopic. "Especially the famous ones."

It took him a few extra minutes to leave the photo shoot room and when he did, he was grinning with anticipation. Besides the pornography images that are allowed to be taken in the room, this wing had nothing bad to it. He stepped around and found the next room was a bathroom—a quite elegant designed one he might add—and an instrumental room.

"Oh my God…" Duo mumbled to himself as he stepped up to a crystal electric. "This is the Crystal 500, the guitar I have _always_ wanted!"

Duo didn't touch his pride and joy of findings. Instead, he turned around and found the rest of the Crystal collection along with several other ones. This wing was extremely wealth to have the ability to have _all_ the most popular instruments around. Especially if there were signed ones hanging outside in the hallway of the main halls AND autographs of the most famous musicians ever in all times.

Duo left the Instrumental room and glanced at all the autographs and icons hanging on the wall as he made his way around the dance floor, located in the center of the wing; there was a DJ station in the front of the dance floor. He saw pictures of Elvis, Queen, Sonny and Cher, and even rock singers from his favorite times that he remembered hearing on the walls. This man was quite the popular one.

Another door Duo entered in was the Kitchen, or as he looked at it, the Buffet Room. There were tables and tables of empty trays where obviously food would be stored for the public. Punch bowls and refrigerators were in different locations. Some eating tables were in the back of the room. Across from the Kitchen was the Recording Studio. In there he felt like he was about to faint.

"I always knew I was an excellent singer…now I can prove it!"

Duo looked around at all the buttons and switches of the Rec Room and then into the glass paned rooms designed specifically for those who are auditioning. When he left the Recording Studio and started walking away, a heavy black door appeared to his right. Upon opening, a thick gush of cold air struck him and he carefully took another step in. A blue light lit up besides him and pressing it, Duo was about to pass out. For a long stretch there were so many cars that he'd remember reading out in magazines. There were classics, imports, luxury, solars, concepts; the works.

"Oh my God." Duo mumbled and stepped up to a classic 1954 Swallow Doretti Coupe. "It's heaven. I've fallen off a cloud from God's home and into the real heaven."

Duo looked into the windows of the car before jumping to another and so forth. Each car had well over the stocked titled and no where near a thousand miles on it. He wound up getting too involved in the room that he no longer cared about the rest of the wing. He was in heaven and he wanted to stay there. When he got to the end of the room, he noticed the wall looked a bit funny and stepped up to a panel at the end in the corner. He didn't have to press it to know it was the garage door opener. In fact, this was _the_ largest room he had ever seen in his entire life; not counting the hangars for the Gundams.

He sighed and stepped through the door he thought he came from and froze when he found he exited another way. Besides him were another weapon and security checking room and to his left was something he hasn't witness. Heading that direction, he began to smell a familiar scent. When he entered, he found he was right. It was the incense room. He smirked when he found the usual smoking toys on the shelves in the back.

Turning and leaving, he followed the stair case before him up to the second floor. There were couches and a catwalk and more dancing areas and even more doors along the walls. He didn't think it could get any better than this.

The first door was the enormous bathroom; strangely enough there were couches in there too. The next was a VIP room; this place wasn't just for those who lived and worked here…it was also a night club for outsiders. The following rooms were guest bedrooms and a bathroom for all. Duo sighed when he was leaning on the catwalk banister and stretched.

"Oh…tiring. I wonder who to go chase now that I've found enough enjoyment to last me for the rest of the year."

Wufei woke up when he was taking a nap in the lounge chairs in the library of the Oriental and Antique Wing. This wing at least made him feel comfortable and relaxed. It was fancy and dressed for royalty, but it wasn't too high class that he didn't feel like he didn't fit in. He left the library and entered the room besides it. When he stepped in and turned on the lights, he felt a big emotion of strength fill up inside him. It looked like a dojo, and by the floors, walls, and posters hanging on the wall, it was. It was a martial arts room and he knew he'd be in this room for quite a very long time in the future. He wanted to take a closer look around but didn't want to spend more time considering it was already two in the afternoon.

Instead, he left and checked out the other rooms around in the wing. Across from him was the China and Statue room. Wufei smirked and looked at each antique standing up. A lot of the statues looked like replicas, but when he looked closer, he found they were not. They showed the scratches and chip marks, the look of a thousand years of decay, and even smudges and tarnish spots. Following the door in the back of the room, he wound up in the Aquarium room. Enormous and thick glass tanks filled over head and pretty much the entire room. He stepped into the room, feeling like he was walking through a hallway, and stopped when he found a nicely designed lounge chair and couch across from one another. The tanks lit up a glow of light enough to see in. It formed a hallway through the room and had a very small place to sit and enjoy the scenery of the sea.

He followed the fish tank hallway—which was obviously empty of marine life—until he entered through another door at the end. It was the living room. Another television, more couches and seating, and an elegantly designed coffee table. Everywhere he had been today had shown some sort of family room; even the Medieval Wing. He followed through the hallway and found more guest rooms; each guest room had its own bathroom.

Across from the living room was a magnificent, elaborated, designed door made of a rich mahogany and cherry oak. It had gold trim and designs of classy symbols on it. Wufei stepped up to it and tried the door knob; amazingly enough, he found the door was locked. He tried again and jiggled the knob, hoping it was stuck, but the door wouldn't even bulge.

"I learned already. If something doesn't want you to go inside, don't disobey orders." Wufei slowly backed away from the door and turned to leave.

Heero stepped out of the equipment room after carefully looking around each piece of machinery. There were dozens of computer systems and technical things in there. It was starting to look like a video game; in fact, this HOUSE was starting to make him feel like he was walking through Duo's Resident Evil video game.

He reentered the hallway and stepped on into another room. It was an office. He looked at all the files left on the tables and read the names. Obviously these people did the same things as Resident Evil had done; they were all testing grounds for science and research. The next couple rooms were more offices and lastly he found two computer rooms at the end of the hall.

Heero sighed and rolled his eyes when he stepped up to the computers. Nothing would turn on in this wing without the proper password. He knew he could hack into the systems to failsafe the system and find out what was going on, but he decided that if it was shut off for a reason, let it stay the way it was.

The next room was massive and had cages all over the place. Dozens of computers and tables sat in random places. Desks and filing cabinets were in the corners. He had stepped out of the animal planet and into the animal hell. This was the nesting grounds for animal experimentation; better not let Quatre find this out. He looked at the back wall and to the metal door with a heavy-duty window on it. Upon opening it and standing in the doorway, he looked around and noticed at least two dozen dog kennels. These people were experimented on dogs and other four legged creatures that roamed the lands. He shut the door and exited the room through another door he found.

He now realized that he stepped out of the science laboratory and into the medical laboratory. There were pretty much the same things in this room that the last had, only with the exception of beds. It still had cages. It still had tables and desks and filing cabinets. Only this time it also had cots for testing human beings to sit and lay down. Heero felt disgusted enough. He thought their scientists were crazy in the head; these guys were flat out fucked up.

Uno smiled up at the large stuffed horse at the end of the hallway in the Western Wing. She didn't know much of what she saw, but she did like the stuffed animal room. She walked through the next door and saw a long row of doors. Looking into each one she saw they were guest rooms. Traveling down the hallway, she looked carefully. This place went from historic and western to what appeared to be classy and rich. She turned the corner until she saw another living room. She smiled and ran up to sit on the couch across from the living room. In front of her was a glass coffee table and a few magazines lying on top of it. She leaned over and looked at the covers. They were old, dated far back into a war with a company named Zeon.

Uno shrugged and looked to an end table besides her at the end of the couch and saw something shiny that caught her eye. She crawled over the cushions and sat on the end of the couch. It was a blue key that grabbed her attention. At the base of the elaborate table lamp was a golden key with blue and other pretty colors on the emblem. She picked it up and looked at it. It looked like the skeleton keys Duo had her learning about. She thought for a moment and a thought came to her mind. It probably went to the door in the western wing that looked fancy.

She hopped off the couch and ran back down the hallway from the way she came. She exited this new wing and reentered the Western Wing. She ran up to the door at the end of the other hall and tested the knob. The door opened.

Uno grumbled. "I thought it was locked." He stepped on through and put the key in her back pocket.

The door shut behind her and she looked around. It was a weird place she wasn't sure what it was. There was a second floor above her and it had most of the flooring cut out. She followed the hallway around the main part of the wing until she got to another seating area. Uno looked up at a few of the pictures. A lot of them looked old and were miscolored; some of them looked fairly new. She blinked when she got up to a wall light that looked like a five pronged candelabra. It was the only one around so why was it there all by itself?

Uno tried to stretch and grab it but found she was too short. Instead, she jumped and managed to grasp the middle prong. To her caution, the thing bent downwards and Uno fell to the floor. When she looked back up at it, it returned to its original spot and the wall to her right moved and slide behind the other walls. Uno stood still and stared into the newly found hallway. The walls were cream and the carpet was off-white. There was an elegant painted picture across from her of a woman holding a little boy in her arms; the boy looked dead and the woman looked evil.

Uno reached around to her back and withdrew the gun before she stepped forward. As soon as she stepped in, the wall slid back to place. Uno spun around on her heels and watched in horror as she was locked in. Turning back to the hallway, her heart beating fast, she sucked in her breath and continued on down the path.

"Don't panic; if Duo can't find you, that computer system can." Uno told herself.

She continued to travel down the hallway until it curved right and came to a dead end. To her right again, a U-turn from how she entered, were two humongous doors, both richly carved. She reached out and twisted the right doorknob. It opened and she pushed open the door. When she stepped into the room and carefully let go of the door, her nerves began to act up when she found it was entirely pitch black. The door slammed shut and Uno spun around to face it. Her heart beating heavy and her breath stuck in her throat, Uno stepped back up to the door. A pink light glowed to her right and Uno reached up to press it. When it lit, it took her an extra minute to gather her senses.

She stepped back when she looked at the door she had just entered, shock filling her senses. All around the door were shelves lined with over a hundred books. Slowly, her eyes enlarged and taking in every detail, Uno turned around to get a good look at the room. The walls were nothing but shelves of books, three to four floors up. There were a few doors on either side of the room, but even other them the shelves stopped and continued on the other side of the wall. Books upon books upon books lined along the edges of the room she had stepped upon. Before her, across from the door she had entered, were several lounge couches and a massive fireplace. Two gold staircases started on either side of the fireplace and joined on top at the second floor. A balcony circled around the entire room for up to at least another floor. Uno looked straight up to the ceiling where the glassed in windows let her peer out into the sky above. Obviously at night, the room would glow into an enormous shine with all the stars to shine down into it. The third floor balcony curved up to enter another staircase until it reached the very top and had, from what she could make out from down below, two arm chairs and a tiny room, made specifically for a reader to read in silence with nothing but the night sky to keep as company.

Uno stepped, slowly, up to the first door on her right, gun forgotten as it was dropped when she looked around at the room. There was a very big closet besides the door where she came in from and a bedroom besides that. Following down the hallway, and looking at the number of books lined up, she found an office for studying, a movie theater room with a panel besides a wall for the movies to switch to another row, a dining room with a kitchen just off that, and hidden behind the fireplace was some room with security machines and weapons. Across the wall was a relaxation room, a video game room—a place she would have loads of fun in—an anime room with another paneled wall to switch the selection of anime, and a formal dining room.

She stepped into the formal dining room and turned on the lights. A glassy elegant table sat in the middle of the room and stretched out far to the other side. Beautiful chairs and more furniture sat in the room and she followed the table down to the other wall opposite from the door she had entered through. A few double glass paned doors lined along the back wall with a classic frosted appearance. She opened through one of them and upon her entering; the lights went on by themselves and lit up all over the room. The lights were candelabras, chandeliers, everything royal and famous. The floor was designed beautifully and richly, the windows along the right side of the room shined out to the trees and makeshift lands of a temple.

A door stepped out of the elaborate white wall to her left and as Uno stepped up to it, quirked her eye brows at it. It looked rather familiar. She reached for the doorknob and found the door was locked and wouldn't move. She sighed and looked at the door. It was designed with so many images; a thought came to her head. Quickly, she removed the key from her back pocket she had found on the table in that living room only hours ago and inserted the golden key to the lock. It clicked and opened and when she left the room, she found she was back where she had started…in the living room where she found the key.

She felt like she was running around in the mansion of Resident Evil…and sadly enough, she forgot her gun.

Wufei was dragging his feet by the time he made his way back to the original living quarters. Quatre had better give him something for searching through his entire mansion. While Quatre was resting and taking a break from life, _he_ had to nearly kill himself in the damn Medieval Wing. Wufei stopped and stared ahead of himself to a door he must have missed when he first came through. He stepped up to the door and opened it. A freshly new scent of grass filled his lungs and he shut the door behind himself.

"Well at least it isn't mildew or scum of a skeleton." Wufei muttered.

He was walking through the hallway made of tall hedges and grass when he came to an opening. He stopped and looked around carefully. There were only two other ways to go, but if he knew one thing, it was that mazes were usually best created in gardens. Shaking his head and shutting his eyes, he turned to go back to the start.

"I'm not willing to get lost and stuck in a snake hole again. One time was enough. If Quatre wants me to explore everything while he sits on his butt, he can explore this on his own."

"Everyone, this is Quatre; can you all hear me?" Quatre spoke up in his walkie talkie.

"Quatre…most of us are right here." Duo grinned. Quatre spun around to see Wufei, Duo, and Trowa standing against the wall where the door to the start of the day was.

"Oh…well, it's about five o'clock. I was wondering if you all were ready to stop for the day." Quatre smiled.

Wufei stormed past Quatre to the computer system. "I'm not going through any more of your mazes again. If you want to explore your court yard, I suggest you do it on your own." Wufei looked up to the computer showing the floor plan of the mansion.

"What happened to your clothes, Wufei?" Duo asked.

"I found the Medieval Wing."

"Ooooh, a Medieval Wing!" Duo's eyes lit up. "Really! With a real torture chamber and trash pit!"

Wufei looked at Duo questionably. "You should have found it instead. I nearly fell in and couldn't have gotten' out if I had."

"Wow! I can't wait!" Duo grinned and hugged himself. "I love things like that!"

Trowa looked at Duo and slowly backed away. "Right…"

All four stepped up to the screen showing the blueprints of the house. Duo stared at the parts that shown the Medieval Wing, Trowa at the Classical Wing, and Quatre at the Western Wing; Wufei was looking for the Court Yard but never found it.

"Quatre." Came a flat voice from the side. Quatre, Duo, and Trowa turned to see Heero and Uno. "Did you know Blassimeer tested on animals?"

"He did?!" Quatre's eyes enlarged. "That's awful!"

"He also has an entire military training facility." Heero shut the door behind himself.

"I bet you're crazy about that, eh?" Duo grinned. He looked at Uno. "What did you find?"

"Heaven."

All of them sweat-dropped.

"Say what?" Duo asked again.

"A really big library with all the works!" Uno smiled up at him.

"Scaling Victorian Wing." Stated the feminine computer voice. "Victorian Wing is roughly over four thousand square units."

"Holy shit-that room's huge!" Duo shouted.

"Duo, please watch your language." Quatre frowned at him.

"Units?" Uno asked, looking up at Heero.

"It's a form of measurement; I'll explain later in your trainings." Heero stated.

"Hey Quatre, ask the computer to explain what the wings were used for." Duo shrugged. "Could come to some use."

"Will you please explain the history of each wing?" Quatre asked kindly.

Wufei tilted his head back a little. "I'd rather not know what the Medieval Wing was used for."

"Blassimeer Court Yard; this area was designed by Lord Blassimeer in an attempt to lose an enemy should the premises get invaded. Hidden walls and doors are secretly assigned junctions and actions. This wing is also used as a relaxation method, brought on by the minds of several mediators." The computer displayed the 3 dimensional view and birds eye view of the Court Yard, realistic photos from right outside and from the computer's form before it was built. It displayed the pictures for each and every wing.

"Original Living Quarters; this wing was only allowed to those living in the mansion. Workers who lived here are not allowed to enter these halls. The Medieval Wing is designed in the early seventeenth century but not designed until the later year around the Zeon wars. This area is formed specifically for the usage of torture and confrontation. Should an enemy be captured, this wing was the working area to gather enemy data and hold the prisoners."

Wufei looked away. "How many people have been brought there?" He asked, staring at the exit door to return to the real world and out of Quatre's illusionary mansion.

"Sources indicate the last total number of workers is fifty. Last total number of prisoners, four thousand, six hundred, eighty two."

Quatre's mouth dropped as did Trowa's and Heero's. Wufei shut his eyes and shook his head. Uno looked at a grinning Duo.

"This is disgusting." Wufei sneered.

"What kinds of work was done in the torture chamber?" Duo asked, making it get even sicker to listen.

"Torture objects have been replaced well over a dozen times. Human remains indicate that over five thousand have died here. Only four thousand, six hundred, eighty two have been prisoners; the library holds seven thousand books, articles, newspapers, and magazines regarding torture, obituaries, human anatomy, dissection, science of the brain and body, diseases…" The computer continued on.

"That's enough." Wufei cleared his throat, remembering his earlier journey. "Continue with the history of this mansion."

"The Classical Wing was formed for Blassimeer's tastes and designs. Workers living on the second floor were a level up from Medieval. The Military Wing was designed for military use only. It was here that well over half the military of Zeon was trained and prepared for war. Oriental and Antique Wing was created for the collections Blassimeer held."

"He was a collector." Quatre smiled.

"Blassimeer was a collector of a million ideals and forms. Two million artifacts have once been stored in this wing. He later sold them to museums for militia purposes." The computer explained.

"Damn." Duo mumbled.

"The Western Wing was designed to suit the workmen's needs. The Saloon allowed relaxation and a drink from all over the world. The Hunting room portrays the animals Blassimeer hunted and killed on his trips across the planet of Earth. The Gun Range allowed extra training to those in need of it. Workers living on the second floor were another level higher than Classical Wing. The Technology Center allowed medicines to be found by working on human and animal experimentations. Prisoners from the Medieval Wing would more likely be brought over to this wing to be used as human testing. Should the human or animal die, their remains would be moved back to the Medieval Wing and thrown into the trash pit."

Wufei looked down and sighed. "I thought I saw animal skeletons at the pit of it all."

"You really saw skeletons?" Duo's eye shot back up. Wufei nodded at him. "Alright!"

"The Music Wing was designed specifically for entertainment purposes. When on vacations, the worker would have the choice of staying and joining the club or leaving. Blassimeer would open this part up for public use and allow musicians, guests, and even famous people to come to his club, The Blassimeer Club. Playboy and Penthouse once modeled at the five time winning photo shoot located near the entrance of the club."

Duo grinned. "And a lot of those pictures were great too." He was grinning and looked over at Heero. When he noticed Heero's flat face, he dropped his grin and looked back to the screen.

"Designed especially for Blassimeer's latest girlfriend was the Victorian Wing. This wing is the entire Victorian Library on it's own with the exception of the Victorian Dining Room, which connects off to the Oriental and Antique Wing." The picture on the screen showed Wufei what was locked behind the door. "This wing has in it, a theater, anime, video game, kitchen, and bedroom. It also has a glass tower located at the very top of the ceiling, surrounded by the astrological ceiling. The library holds well over fourteen million books updated to the Zeon wars, many of which were original copies of few published selections. After Blassimeer's near-death experience, Blassimeer and his girlfriend had a terrible break up and parted. Hatred brewing in his system but the love of the created room and design, Blassimeer hid the original entrance behind a secret door located in the Music Wing, near the entrance of the Club, and locked the only other door up; that second door is located in the Oriental and Antique Wing. It was the only part of this mansion that had never been in use since the mansion was in working conditions, until today."

Everyone looked at Uno. Uno blinked and shrugged, lifting both her arms and hands.

"What? I didn't mean to find it." Uno smiled, a little nervously.

"Quatre, we should go and get something to eat." Trowa stated. Quatre looked down at his watch.

'Oh, you're right." Quatre turned and faced everyone. "How about this, since you all walked my mansion for me and activated the entire thing, I'll take you all out to Winston's Pure and Sure Diner."

Duo's mouth dropped. "You serious? That place is like…high dollar!"

Quatre laughed a little. "I can afford and it," he looked at Wufei's appearance, "by what it looks like a lot of you went through, you could use the pay."

"Give me a couple years and maybe you earned your forgiveness." Wufei sneered him.

"Oh wait…one thing I've been wanting to know." Duo began.

"What?" Quatre asked.

"What's with all the Weapon and Security Check points and rooms?" Duo faced the computer screen. "Huh? What with that?"

"Weapon Check Room and Security Check Point; these rooms were designed in case of invasion. Should an enemy invade the Blassimeer mansion, the workers would have key points to contact their comrades and load up with ammo. The Court Yard is designed specifically for this purpose. With the Court Yard's mazes, hidden passages, secret doors, and moving walls, enemies can get lost and never found again until the computer log's them in and tells the higher level of their awareness."

"Cool; so if we got lost and had people chasing us down, we could still kick ass." Duo grinned and 'thumbed up' at Quatre. Quatre dropped his head in his right hand and grumbled.

"Duo…stop cussing."


	22. Relena's Training

**Author's Notice:**_ Please keep a close note to this chapter that Uno has 'changed' a little. Near the end, she explains something which you need to read very closely; it will explain with a hidden meaning of how she became to be so smart in such a very tiny amount of time. It will also explain more in the following chapter, 23._

Duo's Child

Chapter 22

Uno sat up one morning and immediately doubled over in pain. Something struck hard in her stomach and she didn't like it one bit. It felt like a bunch of bugs were chewing away at her tummy.

She whimpered a little bit and pulled herself off the bed. She dragged her feet over to the bathroom and shut the door behind herself. She had either a stomach bug or she was hungry; that's all she could think of for a reason why her stomach was hurting.

Duo was laughing and poking jokes at Heero in the living room. He was actually joking around with Duo and what made it the more humorous, was his flat voice; he sounded sarcastic more than anything.

"Ah Heero, you're killing me!" Duo doubled over in pain, the hurt from laughing practically killing him.

"Well at least there's one way to kill you then; after all, you kept getting captured in the wars and never died. Hell, I get hurt all the time and never die." Duo busted out laughing again when Heero finished.

"Oh man, oh my God." Duo whimpered and wiped his eyes. "Oh man, this is too much."

"Wow, for a change Duo can't take anymore torture." Heero flatly said lifting his coke to take another sip.

"Dude stop, okay, I'm serious now." Duo chuckled a little more. "Seriously Heero…quite."

"First time I'm hearing Duo say 'no more' rather then 'bring it on'." Heero put the coke down and grinned. He, himself, chuckled a little.

Duo busted out laughing again. "Dang it Heero!" Duo laughed loudly.

Uno blinked when she stepped into the room from watching Heero smirking. She blinked and looked over at Duo's red face. He was clutching his stomach from laughter as Heero was trying to calm himself down.

"Damn, first time I can't calm down and stay down." Duo went silent and stared at him.

"That sounded so bad." Duo clenched his lips.

"I know. Bet Relena would die to hear that." Duo busted out laughing again.

"Duo?" Uno called.

"Eh?" Duo looked over, his eyes watery with laughter tears. "Hey sweetie; ya' just wake up?"

Uno nodded. "My tummy hurts." She pouted.

"Well we'll go get you something to eat, eh? How 'bout that?" Duo sat back.

"Okay." Uno stayed silent. "Duo?"

"Hm?" Duo cleared his throat and finally managed to settle his laughter. Heero had shut up and was watching Uno. "What is it, Honey?"

"She's on Spring Break, isn't she?" Heero asked.

"Yeah, week long." Duo answered.

"I'm bleeding." Uno looked up into Duo's eyes.

"Put pressure on it; I told you that should make it stop." Heero said flatly.

"I did but it doesn't work." Uno said innocently facing Heero.

"How did you cut yourself?" Duo asked. Uno turned to him.

"I didn't. I woke up with a tummy ache and I went to the bathroom and I found I was bleeding."

Duo's face went still as did Heero's. Duo slowly pulled back and away from her. His eyes enlarged and he looked over to Heero; Heero stared back at Duo.

"What?" Uno asked, questionably. "What's wrong?"

"Erm…nothing Uno." Duo leaped off the couch but Heero had already done so and grabbed him before he could flee. "Heero!"

"Duo." Heero replied flatly.

Duo whimpered. "Why now? She's only six-years-old!"

"Duo! Grab a hold of yourself; you're acting crazier than usual." Heero shook him.

Uno began to panic. "What's wrong?" She felt like she had a disease and she was about to die.

"Um…Uno Honey…I'll be right back." Duo shoved past Heero and over to the telephone in the corner of the living room.

Uno blinked up at Heero. Duo picked up the phone and tried to get a hold of Hildie's house. All he got were constant ringings and the answering machine several times. He tried again but still, he got no pickup.

"Duo, Hildie's out of town; remember?" Heero said.

Duo froze and began to whine. "Why now when Uno started her period?" He shut his eyes and lowered his voice. "Do I have to call her then?"

"Duo…she's the only girl we know who we can still get a hold of." Heero wrapped his arm around Uno's back and rubbed her.

"But…"

"Duo."

Duo sighed and murmured. "Okay."

About an hour later, Duo was kneeling down at Uno's level. She had already packed for a week and Relena was overly happy about her stay. She had already began the preparations for Uno's room and had a bunch of her servants run out and buy dolls for her. Right now, Duo was holding and hugging Uno for dear life.

"Duo…you're scared as if you're never going to see her again." Quatre said, looking down at him.

"You never know…Relena may turn Uno's thoughts against everything we had taught her into _talking_ things over with the enemy." Duo hugged her even tighter. "I love you Uno, and don't you forget it!"

Uno stood there, as flatly as Heero usually stands. "Duo; you can let go of me now." Duo pulled back and looked at her. "I'll be okay. If she tries to eat me, I'll run under a bed." Uno smiled and patted Duo on top of his head.

Heero grinned, still thinking the Relena joke a good one. She pulled away from Duo and picked up her backpack and turned with Quatre towards the door.

Duo waved. "Bye Uno! I love you sweetie! Remember that!" The door shut and left Heero and Duo alone in the living room, Duo's hand still in mid air. "Bye…Uno…" His voice trailed off.

"Man Duo…you're pitiful." Heero turned to leave.

"Yeah well…you would be too if _your_ daughter had to go to Relena's for a whole week!" Heero shook his head and headed towards the Military Wing.

Quatre shook hands with Relena before turning to leave. After he did so, he knelt down to Uno and hugged her.

"Now Uno, you be good for her, okay? Despite what Duo says, Relena's alright and safe to be with."

Uno nodded. "Okay."

"Okay." Quatre smiled. He stood back up and walked away with a servant behind him. Uno looked up at Relena, who in turn, knelt down and smiled at her.

"Hello again, Uno."

"Hi." Uno responded quietly.

"Would you like to see your room?"

"Okay." Uno smiled, trying to be nice. She was shy no matter how hard she forced herself to be friendly.

"Come this way then." Relena guided Uno down the hallways of a beautiful mansion, encased with pink just about everywhere. The colors were bright and beautiful, even to Uno's tastes.

"I hope you like it; I decorated it _just_ for a little girl's fantasies." Relena turned her head and smiled. They both walked by a room partially opened with a rich wooden door. Inside, sat a long blond woman who sat patiently, watching the two who walked by. She smirked, wondrous about what Relena was going to teach.

They finally reached a door that was pink and encased in gold; it blended into the hallway walls. Relena faced down at Uno and smiled. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door before stepping into the room.

"Welcome, to your new room."

Uno stepped in and was overtaken by all the colors and the amount of pink used in the entire place. She felt like she was about to pass out from all the bright colors, but Relena's voice spoke through the blurriness of her ears.

"What do you think?" Relena smiled down at her.

"Um…it's nice." Uno spoke.

"Do you like it?"

"I can get a hang of it."

"Well, at least you're being honest. Honesty is the first sign of a good person; liar's never make it past their own free will." She looked around then back down to Uno. "Well, how about I help you settle in; okay?"

"Okay." Uno replied in a whisper.

That evening, Dorothy sat across from Relena at a chess table and almost sworn she'd seen confusion in her eyes.

"Is something amiss, Miss Relena?"

"I just can't stop thinking about how Uno reacts to such things." Relena moved one of her white chess pieces.

"Perhaps Duo had an inflict upon her." Dorothy thought.

"Either way, every girl younger than ten admires the usage of bright colors and pink."

"Not every girl, Miss Relena. Since I could remember I had always adorn black. Why, that is the reason I grew accustomed to its dark nature." Dorothy moved a black chess piece and took out one of the whites.

"I just don't understand how a young girl can look at a doll and question what it's for. When I showed her the dolls I had the servants go out and buy, she questioned me on what she would do with them."

"Then maybe she isn't your ordinary girl."

"Well, she _did_ begin her period at such an early age. I started mine when I was thirteen." Relena made her move on the chess board. "How old were you, Dorothy?"

"I never had a chance to have it. I had my tubes tied when I was eleven." Dorothy moved her pieces.

"Tied! But why? Don't you want to have children?" Relena's shocked expression made Dorothy smirk with humor.

"Oh Miss Relena, my family has always had the love of war. As you know, my cousin Treize Khushrenada, was the key ingredient for the cause of all the previous wars."

"But Dorothy!" Relena slammed her hands down on the chess board. "Going so far as to destroy the means of having children? Why?"

"Perhaps another war will rise to meet another day of peace? I would not prefer to give my children the opportunity to witness the dreadful occurrence, even though I do enjoy it myself. I would prefer not to let them die just as my grandfather had."

"Oh Dorothy." Relena felt spent and fell back into her chair.

"Hah hah! I finally win!" Duo chanted out loud. "I finally kicked your ass!"

Heero remained silent and stared at the television screen of the _Oz and War Handlers_ game for Playstation 2.

"Man, that was actually harder than I thought it would be too." Duo looked at Heero while smirking. "Heero?"

"I wasn't even trying, and you found it hard to beat me?" Heero stared at the television screen blinking. Duo blinked in response. "Man, I would hate to see what you do against the computer on ultra easy mode."

"Ah…" Duo looked to the side embarrassed. _Damn, this guy can do _anything_ still._

Quatre stepped into the living room at that time, giggling. Duo looked up from his posture and questioned him. Heero shut off the game and put it all away.

"What's so funny, Quatre?" Duo asked.

Quatre giggled a little more before explaining. "Relena had just called me a moment ago when I was in my office."

"Yeah, so?" Duo folded his arms back behind his head and rested against the television screen. Heero looked over at Trowa who was stepping into the living room from the opposite hallway than Quatre; he probably just emerged from the Military Wing.

"Well, apparently when Relena was teaching Uno about caring for her body and her female beauty, she had decided to shampoo Uno's hair and use her high dollar chemicals."

"Lovely." Duo rolled his eyes.

"Well anyways, when Uno wasn't paying attention, Relena grabbed a pair of scissors but right before she could make a dent in the Maxwell trait, Uno noticed her. Relena said that Uno leaped out of the chair faster than she had ever seen, spun around, and slapped her very roughly. She said that Dorothy made a motion to put some cream on it as it left a nasty bruise."

Duo's mouth dropped a few inches and his eyes nearly fell out of his head. Heero was grinning—unusual for himself—and Trowa was chuckling and shaking his head. Quatre giggled again.

"Uno?!" Duo shouted. "My Uno?!"

"Apparently Relena realized the hard way that there was no way that Uno would ever get a hair cut."

"That's my girl! You give that Barbie Doll a hard time." Duo laughed out loud.

"Relena stated she was also worried for Uno, as well."

Duo sat up. "Huh? What for?"

"Well," Quatre looked off to the side. "When Uno first saw her room, she noticed Relena had placed several dolls on the floor by a doll house and on the bed. Uno didn't know what to do with them."

Duo grinned. "What do you expect from a girl raised by the Death God of Hell? I ain't even lettin' her get a hold of those shitty dolls from her birthday party." Duo shrugged. "I'm sure when she comes home she'll die before she makes it to her room."

"Miss Relena, please allow me to assist you in putting this cream on your face. You have a meeting tomorrow night with the council of the Unified Earth Sphere Alliance and colonies. You would not want them to know that the former Queen Relena was struck by a little child." Dorothy followed Relena into her bathroom. Relena starred at her face in the mirror.

Relena sighed. "I just don't see why she had to spin around and attack me like that. It doesn't make any sense."

Dorothy smirked. "Some girls admire their long hair. After all, you _did_ show her the beautiful wonders some higher class shampoo and conditioners."

Relena lowered her face to the counter. "Very well; go and get me that cream."

"Uno?" Relena called out as she knocked on Uno's bedroom door. "Are you in there?"

"Yes." Came a soft reply.

"May I come in?"

"It's your mansion."

"Hm…" Relena furrowed and entered the room. When she entered, she found Uno sitting on the window-seat ledge, curled up into a ball, reading an awfully humongous book for her age.

"What are you reading?" Relena asked, walking towards the center of the room in Uno's direction.

"A big book Trowa had lent me." Uno's voice was flat and she hardly spoke; she didn't even bother to look up.

"I see. I am sorry for attempting to cut your hair. I did not know that it meant so much to you; I simply figured you would like the new look I had in store."

"Look at Duo and think that over again." Uno flipped a page and continued reading on.

"I understand; you are still upset with me." Relena looked away in thought. "Hm…"

"Keep in mind," Relena looked up as Uno shifted to another paragraph. "I only came here for one week because your demanded Duo release me and force me. _I_ only wanted to come for a few minutes to know why I was bleeding."

Relena lowered her head. "You sound much like Heero."

"Look who I live with." Uno sifted to the other page.

"I would think you were more of his child rather than Duo's if not for the resemblance." Relena inhaled and lifted her head. "But putting this topic to the side, I have a very important meeting I am assigned to go to tomorrow evening. It is a meeting within a ball."

"Have fun." Uno flipped the current page to a newer one.

"I will do just that. But I am afraid I am going to have to take you along with me." Relena balled her fists, preparing for the argument.

Uno paused and lowered the book, her expression grim and faded, much like Heero's natural appearance.

"Why?"

"Well, you are a guest in my mansion and I cannot leave you alone. Dorothy is attending the ball as well."

"Do you not trust me? Is it because I'm a street punk raised by former street punk?" Uno stared into Relena's eyes without emotion as Relena stared right back with shock. "You know I was raised by the five former Gundam pilots, and yet you worry if I'm going to be alright."

Relena inhaled deeply and sucked in a lot of air. "Uno Maxwell, you are going to go to the ball and meeting with me whether you like it or not. Do I make myself clear?" She tried to sound as forceful as possible.

"_You_ are trying to command me into doing something when even Heero with a gun in my face can't accomplish that." Uno laid the book down on the seat besides her. "Good luck."

"Uno." Relena stated. "I want to see if you can handle yourself in a room full of really important individuals, each having a share of the government."

"I dislike the government." Uno stared at Relena. "They talk about their own plans and what they think the public will like. They don't think like the public and yet they think they have the same focuses as the public, so why are they our representatives?"

"Well, I guess that is a topic we can all discuss with them tomorrow evening." Relena folded her arms.

"What is the real reason I am going to this with you?"

"I also want to let them know how a child of the former Gundam pilots is growing up in a world without war. I wish to use you as an example should any of them ask."

"But what is the _real_ reason I am forced to go?" Uno leaned forward.  
Relena stared Uno right back in the face and said briskly, "because I am going to make you go whether you like to or not." The two of the remained staring at one another; finally, Uno smirked and leant back.

"Hey, if you want me so badly, get me there yourself." Uno stretched. "But don't forget, I was _raised_ by Duo." Uno smirked and ran towards the door.

Relena was somehow prepared for this to happen and reached out for Uno's arm on the way of her little escape. Relena managed to grasp Uno's right arm and spin her around once, before Uno swiped her foot out beneath Relena's legs and tripped the older woman. Relena fell hard, not aware that Uno had so much power and strength for a little kid, and stared up at the ceiling. She immediately bolted up to a sitting position and stared back at Uno, very much ticked off.

Uno was grinning and leaning against the shut door of the room.

"Uno Maxwell; if you do that one more time, I am going to ground you and not let you read any more books, not allow you to wander the halls, and certainly not allow you to use any electronic devices until you return home. Do you hear me, young lady?" Relena furrowed.

Uno smiled kindly in response, stood up tall and kept her hands behind her back, and curtsied just enough of the elegantly princess ways; she tilted her head to the side, bent her knees just perfectly, kept one foot in front of the other, and even spoke with a mild and professional tone.

"Why yes, Miss Relena. I understand quite perfectly." Relena blinked a few times in surprise. Uno lifted her body back up and continue smiling. "After all, I would be most delighted to meet these important figures the public so needs to help run our beautiful nations. Would there be a spot of tea and some crumpets or is the ball it?"

The following evening, Relena and Dorothy were preparing for the meeting before the time came close to leave for the ball. Dorothy was sitting in a Victorian arm chair watching as Relena tied the sash of her dress. Dorothy titled her head.

"Miss Relena?"

"Yes Dorothy?" Relena faced her friend through the mirror.

"Why are you bringing Uno to the ball and meeting without the proper lesson on how to act?"

"I'm afraid she doesn't need lessons on how to act around important government officials." Relena turned around. "I tried to be forceful with her and tell her she had no other option than to assist me. She fought with me at first then towards the end, changed as if she had split personality."

"Perhaps she knows more than you thought."

"I guess; she curtsied and spoke to me in such a manner, I forgot what it felt like to be treated like a classy person rather than a human being. I didn't know whether or not I should move, afraid it would be unofficial of myself."

"A thought unfitting for one of the most important figure heads in the entire world."

"Dorothy, please; I do not need your sarcasm at this moment."

"Very well, Miss Relena. I shall leave you and go prepare myself for the coming occasion."

"Good evening, Miss Relena." An older man greeted Relena as she stepped out of her limo. Dorothy stepped out soon after and Uno last. She looked around and felt a little scared; she disliked a lot of public places.

"May I take your coats?" The man offered.

"Thank you." Relena replied, handing her coat over to the elder man. Dorothy and Uno soon followed. "I would like to introduce to you my friend, Uno Maxwell." Relena showed him to Uno. Uno smiled and curtsied.

"My, they do get younger each year, don't they? Pretty soon, infants are going to teach peace and policies to us elder men and women."

Relena said her farewells to the attendant and assisted Uno into the main hall of the ballroom.

"Miss Relena, do excuse me." Dorothy turned and faced Relena when she noticed another elder man stepping into their direction. "I believe I will go and find out when the meeting will begin."

"Thank you, Dorothy. I am very much applied."

"Relena Peacecraft." The man smiled and reached for her hand. "You look much like you did some five years ago, only if appears you have been getting more beautiful by the day." He bent down and kissed her hand.

"Why thank you, Spunckt." Relena smiled.

"And who is this young brod you have assisting you?" He took Uno's hand and kissed the top of it. "I am Colonial Kindal Spunckt."

Uno smiled in return. "Uno Maxwell."

"She will be joining me for our meeting, this evening."

"Ah, will she? I am looking forward to hearing from the two of you." Uno looked away, finding this man a constant bore and walked towards an empty part of the crowd. The place was huge, designed and decorated much like the Classical Wing back at Quatre's mansion. It was either colored with gold or with blue, obviously a royal and classy color. In the center, couples were dancing about to classical music played by instrumentalists. Along the sides, gatherings of people stood and chatted to one another.

"Excuse me?" Uno turned around to look up into the eyes of dark violet. "Who are you hear with? You look a little young to be attending this ball by yourself."

Uno blinked up at the woman with rich black hair. "I am here with Relena Peacecraft."

"Relena Peacecraft?" The woman blinked. "And how do you know of her?"

Uno bit her tongue, wanting to state she was Relena's current project of doll dressing, but instead stated the other end of the truth.

"I'm her guest for the rest of the week." Uno replied, flatly.

"Oh, I see." The woman smiled. "Well allow me to introduce myself to you. I was an important figure in the last Sanc Kingdom war. My name is Lucrezia Noin; I was the one responsible for turning Relena into the idol she is today."

"Congratulations; would you like a medal?" Uno didn't have a chance to catch herself before she slipped and wound up stating her thoughts out loud to this woman. She bit her tongue and looked away, growling at herself.

Noin smirked. "You appear to be tired of staying with her."

"Don't remind me." Uno replied flatly, again.

Noin looked at her wondrous. "You remind me of several people I once knew."

"Excuse me," Dorothy bowed as she interrupted the conversation, "but the meeting is about to begin. Please, follow me."

Noin and Uno followed Dorothy into a massive and elegant room with a big beautiful black marble table in the center while several chairs sat around it. Noin stepped away to another woman with brown hair and Dorothy stepped up to a chair a couple feet away. Relena came up to Uno and smiled.

"Come, sit Uno." Uno nodded and sat to the right of Relena; Dorothy sat to the left. She looked around and saw Noin sitting across from the woman with brown hair and a bunch more of people she didn't know.

"Well, I see we have a few guests we have not seen in a long time." A man at the end of the table, opposite of Uno, said as he was standing. "Relena Peacecraft and Dorothy Catalonia; it's been years since we have seen you at our formal meetings."

"Please excuse our absences, Lord Shaffier; we have been greatly busy these past couple years." Relena apologized. "But there is one thing I have realized since I have been away on business."

"And that is?" Lord Shaffier asked.

"That despite how many new colonies are currently being built with the funds of both, the Unified Earth Sphere Alliance and the colonies combined, citizens of Earth still find it rather hard to believe that they will not be in danger of living on a colony. Since the wars, colony citizens live in fear upon when their colony might become a target or get in the way of a battle. They fear their lives are at stake and do not want to risk getting blown up in an unstable colony." The room remained quiet and Lord Shaffier sat down in thought.

"So what do you expect us to do? We have already assigned more free and open laws than what the Earth has open. We expect the citizens of Earth to understand our needs and come to outer space. We no longer made it essential to only those with money in their pockets." Colonial Eldridge spoke up from somewhere on Uno's right.

Uno shut her eyes and rolled them beneath her eye lids. She was finding this room a constant bore and, above all, it was proving her point to Relena that they _didn't_ know anything about the citizens needs and desires.

"But what about the children of those who once fought in the wars?" A younger man on Uno's left stood up. Uno's attention got grabbed by what he said and she looked over at him with interest, as did the rest of the group. "The school educational systems aren't even teaching the history of what went on in the wars. They say that it's a danger to teach things like that to children who wouldn't understand the meanings of the many sides and some may even agree with who we called our enemy. That is something I find terribly wrong; if we don't teach our children the history of all wars, then future wars may come along with more inferior weapons than we previously had in our last wars."

"Lieutenant Jospire, please sit down." General Sepiem gruffly demanded.

"I refuse to sit at a matter like this!" Jospire shouted. "What are the children of the ex veterans of the wars doing? Are they being taught by their parents or are their parents forgetting the whole thing? Did our fellow soldiers die without any remembrance to their deaths? They died because they wanted humanity to remember that wars are bad and to learn why we should not be having them!"

"Jospire, please sit down." Uno looked over to a woman a couple seats away from Noin. She had lovely shoulder-length brown hair and rested her chin upon her enclosed fingers built like a bridge. "I am certain the council is aware of that matter. After all, that topic has been in our folder for years since the White Fang has ended."

Jospire blinked. "Huh?"

"Jospire, please; sit." Lord Shaffier demanded. Jospire sat as told. "I apologize for his outburst; Lieutenant Jospire is still new to the council."

"But if the children are raised properly without the want and need of greed and power, then there won't be any reason to worry." Uno shut her eyes and lowered her head. This room was boring her to death. More and more people began arguing and talking loudly, voices were blurring together with other voices, fading out of her senses.

"What about the children of those Gundam pilots?" Uno's eyes snapped open and her head lifted up, fully awake now. "Whose to say _they_ didn't inherit the genes of war hunger and the thirst for blood from those boys!" General Sepiem shouted. "For all we know, they could be teaching their children how to kill and what to look for at such an early age instead of the means of peace and justice!"

"That's not true!" Relena shouted very loudly to be heard by the whole room. In return, she got precisely what she wanted to get. Dorothy smirked as she faced up at Relena. Uno blinked, suddenly knowing what Relena was about to do.

"As a matter of fact, the girl sitting besides me at this moment _is_ a daughter of one of the Gundam pilots!"

The room went crazy with speculation and whispers among each other. Uno looked around, dead serious in the face as Heero had done so many times when he acted his normal self, and looked at each member of the council dead in the eye. Noin, the two women with brown hair, General Sepiem—everyone was in shock of who she was.

"Her name is Uno Maxwell. She is the daughter of Duo Maxwell, Gundam pilot of the Deathscythe Hell mobile suit."

"His daughter!" Noin looked shocked and amazed, as did the two women with brown hair.

"Unbelievable. I knew she looked familiar from somewhere only I couldn't quite place it." The woman with brown hair in double twists spoke softly; however, Uno could still hear her over the crowd.

"Incredible; and this child is not taught about the bloodshed of war and the killers mind of an enemy?" General Sepiem asked.

"No. She is raised properly by the five of the ex Gundam pilots…" Relena stated, noticing the whispers coming from that. She knew they were thinking Uno as an enemy already; after all, being raised by the five rebels of outer space had a negative impact on their peaceful minds. For that matter, Relena added in another name to that category.

"And myself." More whispering rose to the air. Uno sighed quietly, knowing they did not like her already. She didn't care anyways; she hated anybody who said they know of the public and talking like a king of realism about it.

"So then you are telling us that this child is not being bred for war?" Lord Shaffier asked.

"No, she isn't." Relena replied, softly continuing. "Although they _are_ teaching her the basics of how to fight so _should_ we get into another war, she is ready to join."

"Then you are saying they are planning on creating one. If they really had minds of peace than they would know that planning for the unthinkable should be out of the question. By expecting a war to break out, you're practically throwing the greed for more bloodshed right into the air, waiting and preparing for another terrorism attack." General Sepiem stated, briskly.

"Raising a child in preparation of a war is not a negative thing." Uno spoke up.

This action caused Relena to feel shocked and fall back into her seat. Dorothy grinned and looked over at her. Uno's eyes were shut and her head was lowered to her lap. She spoke flatly without emotion and care, but with enough spunk to put these council men in their spots once and for all." Uno stood up without opening her eyes or lifting her head. She figured the best way to speak to these imbeciles is to speak without having to face them.

"Think what you desire to think about teaching a child of war and history, but should a child _not _be raised with the mind of a warrior—the mind of a fighter—the world will easily fall prey to any wars that may come within the coming years, years when your children will run this world and you will be deceased. Have you ever struggled to live on the streets, sleep in a cardboard box? Scrounge for money and steal a measly apple because you haven't eaten in days and were starving, let alone have no family or friends to rely on? This world, at the moment, is easy to live in and a hard target to capture, but in the coming years, when I am of age to take over your spots and influence the nation and civilian cities, I may be the _only_ person who can stop a war from happening; if I should get assassinated before that could even happen, then the Unified Earth Sphere Alliance _and_ the colonies combined, would be taken over and owned by a tyrannical dictator.

"However, isn't that what happened in the late Mareimaia wars? Weren't you all unprepared for the attack she came out at you with? Weren't you easily defeated and hopelessly useless against her weapons? You all talk of peace as if you really know what it means; you talk of the civilians as if you really represent them. But you don't; none of the things you talk about you really know what you're saying; you speak of things that have no meaning.

"You say that the civilians want this and the civilians want that, but do you actually take polls and ask them the questions that need to be asked? You say you represent the civilians but you obviously forgot that originally civilian representation was brought on _by_ the civilians and _for_ the civilians, but do you actually go and talk to them and find out what their weaknesses are and what needs to be changed to make their lives better? You chant all about peace but here you are, stating the obvious that teaching the children of today about the wars of yesterday is a negative thing. If you really wanted to achieve and maintain peace, you don't just do so by removing weapons and arresting anyone who has a different viewpoint than that of the rest of the world; you teach the children the history of the wars that went on so when the world continues rotating, people remember what was fought and why we fought; that way we would even remember the painful separations that both sides had to deal with.

"You are all probably wondering just how a six-year-old girl, raised by former Gundam pilots or not, can know of such detail and to the great amount as I am showing. Well for those who are seriously pondering such things, I'll tell you. I read. I pay attention. I watch the news. I ask. I learn it. I asked those _horrible_ former Gundam pilots you still obviously dislike. I pay attention to what goes on around me. I study old written articles to learn what the reasons were for all that had happened—and trust me, you guys had no main focal point on _any _side to do and act the way you had towards the Gundam pilots and the civilians of both the Earth and colonies. I even hacked into Heero's old laptop once and read all his old mission reports and data entries."

A few of the council members who knew of Heero looked extremely shocked because everyone knew his old war stuff, if not trashed, were even harder to break into.

"I assisted Relena Peacecraft and Dorothy Catalonia to this council meeting to get a feel for what is spoken about, but now I wish that I stayed behind. If the government can't think as intelligent as a six-year-old child—a girl for that matter—then I would not desire to become a figure head as Relena Peacecraft, herself, and Quatre Raberba Winner, are trying to raise me as."

Uno's eyes stayed shut and she bowed to the group. "I thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I bid you farewell."

Uno turned and walked away. When the doors closed behind her, the room remained quiet for another few seconds. It stayed quiet even when Relena whispered to herself and Dorothy.

"I never expected her to speak out like that. She appeared awfully shy and meek, as if she was nervous and expecting some embarrassing thing to go on here. I never knew she knew so much." Relena sighed, looking around to each council member.

Lord Shaffier cleared his throat. "That child…_did_…state a few things I had not come to notice; but so much as to express her feelings and viewpoints towards the government?" Lord Shaffier sighed and widened his eyes. "She's got talent and a knack for debate."

"I can't believe she just said all that without a second thought." Noin stated, looking over to Une.

Uno nodded in agreement. "She defiantly has it cut out for her. I can't say I disagree with her either. Mister Treize would have _loved_ to hear her say all that."

"I'm still shocked that a girl of that age would know so much." Sally spoke up, shocked and still feeling—as the rest of the council—a bit uncomfortable.

Uno stepped down the staircase of the meeting room and rested. She didn't know what to do now, but she didn't really seem to care; just as long as she said what was on her mind to those who mattered the most. Uno leaned against a column and shut her eyes to rest them. If only she could see the faces of the committee, but if she had opened her eyes in the process, she would have lost her train of thought and stopped in mid sentence, appearing like a fool to the most important people ever.

She opened her eyes and looked around her surroundings. The ball was still going on but it appeared like it was ending. Uno shrugged, pushed off the column, and decided to go to the limo where Pagan was waiting. When she reached the limo, she noticed a big white van with a large and long antenna parked right behind the limo. She blinked.

"News, channel 72?" Uno questioned.

"They were recording the meeting. I heard them say that this was going to be their biggest meeting in 3 years since the Mareimaia War had ended. It sure turned out to be a remarkable meeting, indeed. Hasn't it, Miss Uno?"

"Yeah." Uno mumbled and climbed into the limo. Pagan shut the door behind her. "A real blast for everyone to see."

Duo's mouth was still hanging wide open even after the meeting had ended and the news reporter tried to explain what had happened to the viewers. Heero's face was just about as shocked as Duo's was. Quatre stared at the screen, unable to move. Trowa forgot to take another breath even though his mouth was still parted—just not as widely spread as Duo's, and Wufei was grinning with his arms folded as he continued leaning against the wall.

"Uno…told the entire committee what she thought of them." Quatre stumbled out.

"She told them off." Duo stumbled out. "And on camera."

"She hacked into my computer?" Heero blinked. "How?"

"My goodness. I never would have guess that Uno knew so much." Trowa finally took another breath.

Wufei was the only one who remained quiet, but he too was very much shocked.

"I can't believe she just insulted them all on television! Widely spread around the Earth and to the colonies, news channel; and she told them all off without even caring or thinking twice about it!" It was hard for Duo to grasp.

"How could she hack into my computer?"

"I can't believe what she did—even though she _did_ stand up for us and she _did_ tell them what they needed to know—but still!" Duo freaked out.

"I can't believe she could hack into my system reports."

"Heero, shut up about your lame laptop already, will ya'! This is important too!" Duo snapped at Heero. Heero slowly turned his head to look at Duo, his eyes enlarged and his mouth ajar.

"I keep the laptop under stricter security than I do all my other possessions and even tighter than I had during the wars." Heero stumbled out slowly.

"Yeah well…get over it." Duo grumbled.

"Duo," Duo looked at him, "even _Oz_ struggled to try and break in and couldn't. I'm wondering how she could without so much as a struggle."

Relena knocked on Uno's door later that night. Once again, she received a soft "come in" from the other side. She opened the door and stepped in. When the door shut, Uno looked up from the same book then returned to reading.

Relena just now realized the title of the book: _The Mysteries of the Bloodless Fate; a descriptive guide to the teachings of old world to new world order_.

"Uno, may I speak with you a minute?" Relena spoke up, her mouth dry from the title of the book.

"Sure." Uno replied flatly, placing the book down. "What?"

"Um…what are you reading…about?"

"The world before the colonies." Uno looked off in thought then faced Relena again. "Did you know there were over a hundred different countries, each believing in different beliefs and different notions? I read that where we live now used to be called United _States_ of America, somewhere in the eastern territory. It was supposed to be a mixing bowl of the entire planet."

"Um…no, I did not know that." Relena blinked in thought. _This little girl is getting way too advanced for her age!_ "Uno, about tonight."

"What about it? I'm not apologizing if you want me to."

"Did you know you were on camera the entire time?"

"I found out when I went to the limo. I saw the van behind the car." Uno stretched.

"And you didn't care you said that to the entire media broadcast center, probably frightened the entire world and the colonies, together, and probably got overheard by Duo and the rest?"

"They don't matter to me when I spoke those things." Uno rolled her eyes and waved her hand a little bit.

"But, you told the entire committee off to all who were watching!" Relena shouted.

"Yeah and they should have been prepared for it!" Uno stood up and shouted right back. "In fact, if they never thought and acted the way they had, then I wouldn't have had anything to say to them, now wouldn't I?!" Uno furrowed her eyebrows and sighed deeply. "I want to go home tomorrow."

"Very well. I just want you to know how much you shocked us all tonight." Relena mentioned calmly. "You gave us all a scare. After all, even Mareimaia Khushrenada was around seven when she spoke to the world, but you know more than she had; more than I know today. It's not normal for a child of the age of six to know as much as you know; I just want you to know that."

"Don't remind me." Uno rolled her eyes and walked around Relena to the dresser to get into her night clothes. "After all, Duo taught me how to speak and read."

"Huh?" Relena turned around to face her. "You didn't even know how to speak?"

"Litterally." Uno turned to face Relena after shutting the dresser drawers and holding the pile of clothes in her arms. "I never really spoke a day in my life except for maybe one or two words. I just learned how to speak about 9 months ago when Duo took me in from off the streets."

"He…told me that." Relena held her tongue as to not spill the truth about Uno's bloodline. "I'll let you get some rest now. You appear you may need it."

"Thank you." Uno replied, calmly and nicely, but still without a smile.

"And tomorrow morning, I will alert Pagan for your ride home."


	23. Talent Night

Duo's Child

Chapter 23

Uno stepped through the door when she got home and walked down to the living room in search of people. She sighed halfway there and dropped her things in the hallway. When she entered the living room, she looked over at Heero as he came out of the kitchen.

"Where is everyone?" Uno asked. Heero stopped walking and looked at her.

"…" He didn't have anything to say to her.

"I take it they'll be back, right?" Uno asked.

"Hn." Heero stepped past her. "Uno?"

Uno turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

"How did you hack into my old laptop?"

"…Um…" Uno pondered.

"Or did you lie about the whole thing?"

"No, I didn't lie." Heero wished she had. "I found it when I was looking around and took it to my room. I was bored, found it on top of a closet, got it down, and opened it up."

"How did you decode the codes? I kept a binary lock on it, a system lock, a Zero Code keycode, and a mechanic lock on the laptop to make sure nobody could get in." Heero furrowed his brows in question.

"Well, the lock on the outside wasn't hard; just had to pick it. But the rest…well…I learned the language and read the codes. They didn't seem that hard when I understood what it was saying."

Heero's eyes widened. "You found it simple?"

Uno nodded. "Was I not supposed to?"

"How did you learn the language?" Heero turned away and walked around Uno in thought.

"Um…I found books on it. In school, they have beginner's books to binary codes and whatnot, so I checked one out and read it. I asked Mr. Merky to give me an exam on it when I was finished."

"And you passed?" Heero asked, leaning agains the fireplace.

"Just barely; he said I got a sixty on it and the grading in the book was pretty wacky. But Mr. Merky told me that it was a very hard language to learn and he once tried at it. He said he failed but figured I could read the code well enough to pass with a sixty. Said that was _very_ good as the language isn't easy to learn."

"So then how do you know it? Did you have a hard time learning it at all?"

Uno blinked off in thought. "At first I did, but then I realized a pattern and found a cheaters way through it."

Heero lowered his head. "A child can read a code it took me half my life to learn."

Uno smiled and patted Heero's arm. "It's okay…not everyone is that smart."

Heero glared Uno's big grin. Uno giggled and turned to leave. Heero looked up at her again, a new thought in mind.

"Uno…what about the Zero code?"

Uno turned around. "That was freaky."

"Huh?" Heero blinked.

"After I broke into the binary codes, a saw a bunch more written data of letters and numbers and I thought, for sure, it was more binary; but as I tried to scan everything and read it all, the entire screen when yellow and weird on me."

"It…did?"

"Mmhm." Uno nodded. "It was like it was trying to take over my brain."

"What did you do?" Heero asked, shocked.

Uno sighed. "Well, at first nothing…and then I started to feel like it was trying to tell me to get into your files and read everything; I got mad that a machine was telling _me_ what to do and began hacking _that_."

Heero blinked. "You bypassed the Zero code?"

Uno shrugged. "I guess. It wasn't simple but I was mad at the stupid machine." Uno turned to leave. On the way, Quatre walked by and patted her head.

"Hey Uno."

"Hi Quatre." Uno picked up her stuff and went to her room. Quatre walked into the living room where he saw Heero off in deep thought.

"Trying to make preparations for another mobile suit, Heero?" Quatre asked, smiling.

"No." Heero blinked up at him. "Uno just described how she hacked into my laptop without a hard time. She understands binary, she bypassed and over ran the Zero, and did it all without haste."

Quatre blinked. "You put the Zero into your laptop?"

"Yeah, it was supposed to be a coded lock incase anybody got a hold of the machine. But Uno went around the system as it tried to control her. She reversed the process by taking over it." Heero looked at Quatre. "The binary part I understand and the lock on the outside she can pick from Duo, but the Zero makes me wonder. She might have been taken over by the Zero at the same time she took over it."

Quatre blinked. "Huh?"

"I don't think she really knew so much about the past to say what she did to the committee. She stated that she learned from several places, but nothing would explain as much as it had for her than the Zero system."

"You don't like it taught her all she needed to know, do you?" Quatre asked.

"Well, Zero knows of me and saw a little girl breaking into _my_ personal computer. Zero must have felt she was ready to learn the truth." Heero went off in thought again.

"Oh Heero; Uno's not ready to know such things!" Quatre shouted, worried.

"…I know…" Heero replied softly.

The following two days, Uno sat down with Duo and the rest of the group and discussed what had happened when she met up with the Zero system and the committee. All they learned is Uno simply bypassed Zero, which made Zero realize she could handle herself in times of roughness, and taught her the lessons of the past. Uno spoke as if it were a simple topic and shrugged nearly half the time, while everyone else were crazily shocked about the whole thing. To them, Zero had taught her all she expressed, but to Uno, she read about it and learned about it from all the other ways as well.

She was walking to school with Theresa besides her. Uno was quiet—as usual—and Theresa was humming.

"Uno?"

"Hm?" Uno scratched her forehead.

"Did you know you were on the news Friday night?" Theresa lifted her arms and hung her bag behind her head.

"Hm…" Uno thought for a moment. "Not until afterwards." Uno looked at Theresa.

Theresa looked back at Uno with umoving eyes. "I thought it was amazing how you acted like that to those people. My mom said that was a dangerous path you took because those are all important people."

Uno scoffed at that. "Not important enough to matter to me."

"Huh?" Theresa looked at Uno in question. "But they own us."

Uno stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Theresa. "They do _not_ own us! If you think so much as to let them guide your life and rule over you, than you are obviously not the type of person I would like to be around."

Theresa blinked at Uno, a little frightened about losing a best friend. "But…"

"Theresa, there is never a good time when somebody rules over you. If there were higher authority over you, telling you what you can and cannot do then we wouldn't be able to think for ourselves. They don't know what we, _civilians_, want in life and what we strive for so hard. They talk like they're our representatives and they own us, but they do _not_! I will not take orders from older people who think they know what I want! I would rather _die_ before allowing such autocracy to rule over me!"

Uno remained a couple inches away from Theresa's face, anger rising in her mind, her breath coming out in harsh breaths. Theresa blinked back at Uno in fright. Uno pulled away and shut her eyes before she turned to leave.

"Sorry." Uno started walking again. "I don't know what came over me."

"You're weird Uno." Theresa continued walking.

"I know. I just got my period last week." Uno's head remained low and her eyes stayed closed.

"Wow! I heard most people are about ten or so when they get theirs." Theresa smiled weakly, trying to ease her tension. "What's autocracy mean?"

"Something like dictatorship by one person." Uno turned the corner onto the main street towards the school. "I'm not so sure, but I somehow know what it means when I speak with it."

"Wow. You got really smart since the last time I saw you." Theresa smiled.

"Hn…thanks." Uno smirked.

Uno was sitting in her desk, watching the class talk about to one another and chitchat about random topics. Theresa sat behind her, drawing little sketches and humming again.

"You sure do like to hum." Uno said.

Theresa giggled. "I have a song stuck in my head still."

"Great, and now you're giving that stickiness to me." Uno rolled her eyes. Theresa giggled again.

"I hope to become an artist when I grow up. I like to draw."

"Hn." Uno looked over at Brittany.

"Yo Uno, what was up with all that Friday night?" Brittany asked.

Doug turned to look at her. "Yeah, you were on the news!" The class looked at Uno. Theresa ignored them and continued drawing her cartoon figures. Mr. Merquise looked up at them.

"Yeah, you were on the news. I forgot." Sarah stated. "My mom said you were bad that night and should have been grounded to acting that way."

"Why? Because I have a mind for myself to think with?" Uno furrowed her eyebrows and looked over at Sarah. "Is it such a crime to think for yourself and be normal and not all high and mighty?"

"But you said all those rude things to them!" Corey proclaimed.

"Point being? If they're as mature and important as they claim to be, then they should be prepared for such thoughts from people who dislike them." Uno looked at Corey. "They don't know anything enough to be where they are today."

"And you do?" Brittany smirked and tilted her head, mocking Uno.

"I know far more than you do, that's for sure. Just because I told off the committee of the government doesn't mean I'm a bad person or I was acting badly at the meeting; it just means that they need to grow up and learn life isn't all peachy."

Mr. Merquise was smirking and unable to finish grading their last tests.

"And how would you know? You're not old enough to know that, either." Bobby said.

"Yes I would." Uno replied softly.

"How?" Bobby smirked. Brittany mocked Uno again. Uno's breath was harsh now and she was trying not to lose her temper. Theresa looked up at Uno, worried for her friend and wanting to help some, but was unable to do so.

"Yeah, since when do you think you can tell them off because _you_ know the whole world already? They're where they are because of what they know!" Cindy asked.

Uno growled and stood up. "Have any of you ever lived on the streets and slept in a cardboard box? Have any of you stolen an apple because you were starving and haven't eaten for days? Any of you ever get beat up because older people thought you weren't good enough to get a family of your own? My parents died in the White Fang war as civilians! They left me to live alone in the streets, all by myself, without even knowing how to speak! If Duo hadn't of found me and taken me home, I would still be on the streets today!"

Mr. Merquise blinked at this surprising knowledge. He didn't know Uno literally was taken' off the streets; he just knew she was adopted.

"Sit down, all of you." Mr. Merquise stood up. Everyone sat down. He looked at Uno. _That girl…she's probably raised by them into thinking like a Gundam pilot_.

"Uno…you were courageous Friday night." Uno looked up to her teacher with a shocked expression. "I knew somebody who would have loved to hear you say that, especially at such the young age of six." _Not only would Treize admire her, he would feel for the fact that his word got out to _somebody_ besides us fellow pilots_.

"Uno, what do you plan to be in your life?" Cindy asked.

"I don't know. I don't see myself in the future." Uno replied.

"Doesn't that usually mean you're going to die before that chance comes?" Bobby asked up at Mr. Merquise.

"Not all the time, Bobby." Mr. Merquise handed out worksheets. "Work on these while I finish grading your tests. I haven't gotten around to doing that just yet."

Claryce raised her hand.

"Yes, Claryce?" He paused.

"Why do you have such a deep voice? My daddy doesn't have a deep voice." She asked innocently.

Mr. Merquise smirked and bowed his head. "Some people are born with a history that shields away from normality."

"Psst, Uno?" Theresa leant forward and whispered into Uno's ear.

"Eh?" Uno leant back to hear her friend.

Theresa smirked. "Wouldn't it be funny if I put that picture of Brittany dating that goblin into the school talent book?"

"Alright, see you then." Quatre hung up the phone. Duo looked over from his sitcom with question written on his face. His arms were hugged behind his head.

"Eh? Whose that?"

"That was Relena. From the meeting, she met up with Sally Po, Lady Une, and Lucrezia Noin; she's got contact information for me."

"Oh yeah? What for?"

"That way I can ask them if they would take a week and teach Uno some of _their_ tactics."

"Ah, not a bad idea. But, what could they teach her that we already haven't?"

"Well, Sally Po is with the medical unit and Une deals with the Preventers work; Noin can probably teach her the meanings of war and more history about what we all went through before Uno met up with us."

Duo sighed. "That's not a bad idea. But one more thing; we _still_ gotta' get a hold of Zechs somehow; unless you'd rather he and several other's not be apart of her life."

Quatre turned off in thought. "It'll be best if we had. Only Relena doubts anyone can get a hold of him. Une did mention that he took off after the terraforming project proved to be a success; but he left without a trace and took off in the middle of the night. Even Noin had no clue where he went to."

"Well," Duo stretched, "I guess we'll just have to find out." Duo leant back and looked back at the television.

"Aren't you supposed to be in work, today?"

"Nah, took off. And besides, they're training a new guy named Venice. Kinda' fruit if you'd ask me." Duo yawned. "But they need a man on the floor while I work in the back."

Quatre sighed. "Well, I'm sure Catherine wouldn't mind teaching Uno how to throw knives."

Duo blinked and looked back over at him. "Don't you think she needs to practice on that, first?"

The school bell rang and Theresa and Uno were walking out of the building. Several people looked at Uno as she walked by them and whispered to one another. A few teachers watched her as she exited the school. Uno practically kept her eyes shut as Theresa was looking around in a dazed fashion.

"Uno…you're even more popular now that everyone saw you on the news." Theresa whispered in Uno's ear.

"Nah they aren't." Uno opened her eyes as they stepped outside. "They just think I was wrong when I said what I had."

"Uno!" A boyish voice shot out. Uno stopped and looked back with Theresa. Ricky hopped through the groups and gatherings of people until he finally got on a roll of running towards his two friends.

"Hey!" Ricky paused to lean over and catch his breath. "Man…running is a bitch."

"Hey…no cussing around me." Uno stated flatly. Ricky looked up at her. "If I'm not allowed to cuss, I won't let you."

Ricky blinked then smirked. "Sorry. But man…I can't believe you were on television!" Ricky followed Uno and Theresa past the busses and towards the main roads. "I didn't believe it at first, but when I looked closely past all that high class crap that was on you, I knew it was you without a doubt." Ricky smirked.

"Fascinating." Uno replied without emotion. The three of them continued walking home towards Quatre's mansion.

"You know, at first, my dad was a little rough on the subject about you being in that committee, but man was he on a roll when he was talking about his work process and the kinds of things that would be changing because you mentioned all that."

"Uh huh."

Wufei pulled up on his bike when he noticed three little children walking up to the driveway. He paused and sat on the bike, waiting for them to catch up with him. He smiled a little when he saw them all chit-chatting about actual topics instead of child-like ones.

"So, any who…Johnson got really beat up when he did all that. My dad told him that, if he ever disrespected his name again, that he would be thrown out of the family without a second thought."

Theresa blinked at him. "But your brother's only sixteen. Why would he get that much punishment?"

"Well…my dad obviously doesn't like being called the names he called him. Johnson _did_ tell him what kind of a father he thought he was; he actually stood up for me." Ricky smiled.

"Your father abuses you?" Wufei asked as they stepped up to him.

Ricky looked over to Wufei. "Well, he works me too hard and doesn't let me have fun as a child. Johnson says Dad takes his work too seriously, but my dad wants to be sure I take over the family business when he goes."

"What kind of business is this company?"

"Some military aid, I think. Uno, wait up!" Ricky ran off to catch up with Uno and Theresa.

"Military aid? There are no such things." Wufei sat a moment and conjured up the points in his head.

Duo walked by Quatre and got another canned soda out of the fridge. He popped the top and took a couple sips. He noticed Heero sitting at the table with the old laptop, rereading old mission reports.

"Still wondering?" Duo smirked. He toasted to the computer. "That's my Uno."

"I still can't believe she could understand Zero at such an early age." Heero hit a key and a bunch of button noises came up.

Wufei stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey Wu! What's up ol' buddy?" Duo nodded at Wufei. "Hey, anybody seen Uno around?"

"She said she, Theresa, and Ricky were going to hang out in the Victorian Library today; she wanted to show them what she found." Wufei washed his hands in the sink.

"Eh..." Duo paused to thin, then shrugged. "Let's hope they don't get lost."

"Oh wow! Hey Ricky! Come check this out, man!" Theresa was at the very top of the tower in the central part of the library, looking over the whole mansion to the forests surrounding the castle. "I can see so much, it's so pretty up here!"

"Yeah um…" Ricky was looking straight up at Theresa. "Why not stay up there and just uh…describe it all to me. I'm a…afraid of heights."

"You are?" Uno asked, surprised. Ricky looked back at her.

"No, not really…but just of how high up she is and having only glass and marble surrounding me doesn't sooth my heart." Ricky replied truthfully.

"Oh." Uno sighed and opened a book she took out of the history section of the library. "Hey Theresa, come down here a minute; I found something you may like." Uno sifted through a few of the pages.

"What is it?" Ricky asked, leaning over to look at the text in the book. "A bunch of names?"

"It's a table chart. The entire book is a table of tables, where they came from, what they mean…how used it usually is." Uno blinked in surprise at the big book.

"That's a big book." Ricky retorted.

"What's a big book?" Theresa breathed heavy from climbing up and down all the stairs. She looked at the book and paused. "Oh wow, that is a big book."

Uno turned a page. Ricky looked from Uno to the book, in question.

"What are you doing?"

"What's your name?" Uno had asked Ricky without looking up.

"Ricky." Ricky blinked at her.

"Not that, I mean your middle name. What's your middle name?"

Ricky paused. "Um…Farees."

Uno blinked and looked up at him. "You're Arabic?"

"I've got some in me. My grandmother was Arabian."

"Hm…didn't know that." Uno looked off in thought.

"Oooh, do me! Do me!!" Theresa beamed.

"Hang on, let me do him first." Uno sat down on the floor and flipped through the pages. "Ricky, your middle name, Farees, is Arabic and it means Knight." She scanned again. "Ricky is English and it means a powerful and strong ruler; people ruler, gifted ruler. Pretty much, your name came from some old German thing."

Ricky blinked. "Wow…I'm a powerful, ruling, knight!" Ricky stood and posed like Superman. Uno looked up at him with a blank face.

"Er…right." Theresa blinked then snapped her head back at Uno. "Me next, me next! Theresa Charline."

"Okay, hang on." Uno found the pages and read them. "Charline is French for manly."

"Hahaha!" Ricky laughed. "Theresa's manly! That's funny!"

"Hush you!" Theresa scoffed him. Ricky laughed a little more.

"Theresa is Greek and means Terence; it's traditional meaning is reaper." Ricky froze. Uno looked up at her. "Your name means reaper."

"Cool! I'm like the Grim Reaper!" Uno grumbled; _she_ was supposed to be the Grim Reaper after Duo!

"You _are _manly!" Ricky chuckled.

"Watch it you, I can kill you with a single touch!" Theresa laughed. "What about you, Uno? What does it say about your name?"

Uno looked it up. She blinked. "It's not really in here. I know it's a form of the number one." Uno shrugged. "It's Spanish for one; that's all I care."

"You don't have a middle name?" Ricky asked. Uno shook her head. "Man."

"Oh wow, Uno!" Theresa gawked up at the catwalk of the Music Wing. "I can't believe you actually live with all this stuff! You are _so_ cool!"

Uno smirked. "Thanks."

"You'll probably become the most popular girl in all the school by the end of the year." Ricky stepped onto the dance floor and stepped up to the DJ booth. He blinked in amazement at it as he trailed his hand and fingers across the keys.

"Follow me, Theresa." Uno walked down a little hallway into the recording studio.

"Where you going?" Ricky soon followed. He froze when he saw what was behind the metal door. "Wow! You got a recording studio in your own house, Uno! That's great!"

"So totally cool!" Theresa ran inside.

Uno shut the door behind them. "Yeah, only I don't know how to work it." She said flatly.

Ricky stepped up to the switches. "Well, here's your power button. These switches here are the bass and tremble; they're your tone switches pretty much." Ricky explained. Theresa stepped into the next room where the mic hung from the ceiling. "See these buttons here, they're the switches that mark the end of the song, beginning of the song, middle; you press them at certain times to link the song together incase of a power shutdown." Ricky looked over to his left where the switch board squared off to the side. "Cool! You even got a synthesizer!"

"A what?" Uno blinked in confusion.

"Synthesizer; it's a machine make techno. At least that's what I _think_ Johnson used to call it." Ricky got an idea and looked at Uno. "Hey Uno…mind if I use this place to make a song? I wanna' enter the talent show."

"Me too!" Theresa beamed from the other side of the window. Ricky and Uno looked up at her. She had on singer ear muffs. "I think it'll be fun! Come on Uno!" Theresa smiled.

Uno sighed. "Okay. Why not?"

"Yay!" Theresa clapped then froze. "Wait…the Talent show is in two weeks, Wednesday."

"Yeah, so?" Uno stated.

"I'll be gone that day. Doctor appointment." Theresa frowned. She then pointed her finger at Uno and furrowed her eye brows. "But you better enter that dang contest!"

"It's not a contest, Theresa." Ricky smirked. "Dummy."

"Well, it doesn't matter!" Theresa frowned. "Uno's joining anyways! I'll join her up."

Ricky chuckled.

"Uno." All three jumped and looked around.

"Duo?" Uno blinked.

"Where is he?" Theresa looked around through the glass panel.

"He's a ghost." Ricky claimed.

"I wish." Duo came on again. "I'm on the speaker; I'm in the security room. What you all doing in there?"

"Playin' around." Ricky stated, looking at the switches and turning on the machine. He blinked when all the lights turned on. "Woah."

"Well…okay. I'm coming down." Duo's voice disappeared from the speaker.

"What's he talking about?" Theresa asked.

"He's joining us. I guess he's bored. He didn't have to go to work today." Uno watched Ricky figure out the switches and plates.

"Man, this thing is wicked cool! I can make _anything_ with it!" Ricky's eyes were wide and he wrapped his arm around Uno's waist. "Uno, you rock!"

"Oooh! Shame shame! Ricky and Uno, sitting in a tree!" Theresa joked from the other room. She received glares from both people and laughed. "Ricky, you remind me of Heero, _especially_ when you do that!"

Uno sighed. "Oiy."

"Hey." Duo entered the room. Uno jumped and spun around.

"How did you get here so fast?!" She practically shouted out.

"I learned something you didn't when touring this place." Duo grinned.

"What? Secret passages?" Uno blinked.

Duo smirked. "Nope. How to run."

"Hah hah." Ricky smirked and snickered some. "That was a good one."

Uno stood there glaring the two of them. She turned and stepped up to Theresa as she walked out of the room. Duo walked into the room and put on the headphone.

"Hey Ricky." Duo called out through the microphone. "Set the numbers to one o' thirty-four sixty-two."

Ricky blinked and flipped on the combinations of the numbered switches. "This thing's weird."

Music came on and Duo started to hum. Before they knew it, he was singing _It's so all right_. Uno smirked, Theresa gawked, Ricky paied attention to the switches and put on the headphones.

"Wow Uno, your whole family rocks!" Theresa proclaimed.

Weeks later, Uno was talking to Ricky at the Talent show and laughing. Duo was talking to Theresa's parents. Quatre and Trowa were talking to other fellow parents. Heero was forced to go because Relena had wanted to see the Talent show.

"So…you're actually going to go through with it?" Ricky asked as Uno tucked her hair into the beret. "I wish I could join, but they didn't accept songs unless I'm doing it on stage."

"Oh well." Uno shrugged. "Besides, Duo and the others don't know I could do this. They don't think I paid attention when Heero and everyone else tried to teach me their native language."

"But you _do_ know them." Ricky stated.

Uno nodded. "Mmhm. And they're about to find out."

"Man…I can't wait to see the look on their faces when you do. It'll be a real shock."

Uno sighed. "Is Mr. Merky here? I thought I saw him but he isn't talking to anyone and we can't go anywhere else."

"He's here, I just don't know where." Ricky shrugged. "You're going to be fine, Uno. Trust me."

Uno smiled. "I _am_ a little nervous."

Ricky leant forward and hugged Uno. "Trust me, you're good at this shit."

Uno smirked. "Shame on you."

"Yeah yeah." Ricky winked at her and reached over to give her a peck. Uno blinked in shock and felt her cheeks warm up. "May that be some help." He smiled.

"Ricky?" Uno mumbled.

"Alright people, let's get moving!" One of the teacher ladies called out.

"Gotta' go!" Ricky fled before Uno could say anything. She lifted her hand to her cheek where he had kissed her and felt it. It still felt warm.

"So, Uno a little scared?" Quatre asked as Ricky sat down besides Duo.

"A little; I told her not to look this way if she doesn't want to mess up."

"Why would she mess up if she faced us?" Duo pondered before he cracked up laughing with Ricky.

"You two are bad." Heero retorted.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not being copied—oh wait…I am." Duo and Ricky laughed again. Heero rolled his eyes.

As the Talent show went on, there were many kids who did acts and jokes and few who sang. Brittany and her group of famous friends did one popular song you hear all the time on the radio and had the music teacher beaming with glory. A boy in the middle school sang the song _Baby Got Back_ and did the same dances; he even had some of his female friends play the act at the beginning of the song. He had loads of laughter for his song. Some people did dances and moves together in a group to various techno rock and dance songs. A girl before Uno just finished doing a skit from _Romeo and Juliet_ with another boy and cleared the stage. Uno's heart began to pound in her chest.

"Alright. Next we have a very special young girl with a song that wasn't listed. She said she wanted to keep it a secret until the show. Please, don't any of you make any negative gestures towards her when she is on stage." The woman in charge of the show spoke to the audience.

"What's the big deal?" Duo whispered down to Ricky.

"The whole school's disappointed with Uno because Brittany spread some wild shit—er, crap—about Uno being on the news and things she _claimed_ she had said." Ricky replied.

Duo chuckled. "You have a naughty mouth, Ricky."

"So, what's the song about?" Quatre asked Ricky.

Ricky shrugged. "I don't know, but she said it's going to test her intelligence…whatever _that_ means." Ricky shrugged. "It's hardly in English; that's all she told me. Just something she put together the words of and made a song."

"Not in English?" Duo asked.

"Her name is Uno Maxwell, and she is presenting to us a song she preformed from scratched." The lady stepped down off the stage.

Uno took a big breath before stepping out onto the stage. "Here we go." She murmured to herself.

When she stepped out, the load of people ran up to her sense and she almost panicked, but she reminded herself of the time she was the star attraction at the circus and Catherine had nearly stabbed her to death. She scanned the audience as she stepped up to the microphone, catching a glimpse of Brittany and her group of fans scoffing and making jokes about her. She looked over and found Duo and Ricky and the rest of the group. Amazingly that didn't phase her one bit. She found, in the back of the room in the shadows, Mr. Merquise. She wanted _him_ of all people there because he gave her the confidence she always searched for.

Uno took a deep breath and spoke into the microphone. "The song I have for you today is called _First Love_. It is an original song I created by myself. The song is in Japanese so if you require the translations, I have asked that they be put in the back of the pamphlet you received upon entering, tonight."

Duo blinked and looked in the pamphlet—as did the rest of the audience. Brittany grinned.

"I bet she won't even know what she's saying." Brittany murmured; her friends giggled. Duo frowned and pressed his foot up against the legs of their chairs—they were seated in front of Duo and Ricky. Brittany turned around and looked at him scoffingly.

Uno took one more breath before signaling for the music to turn on. When it did, Relena and Quatre smiled; it was a nice, soft, and classical song. Uno began to hum, nervously, into the microphone to pass the time of the song until she was ready to sing. Quatre smiled, remembering when she asked for his help on learning to play the violin and piano and Trowa for the flute; he now knew why.

Uno shut her eyes and wished the world away as she began singing the lyrics she spent so much time on.

_First Love is by Utada Hikaru; English translations is in parenthesis_

"Saigo no KISU wa (In your final kiss)  
TABAKO no flavor ga shita (I could taste the flavor of tobacco)  
Nigakute setsunai kaori (It was a bitter and painful smell)

Ashita no imagoro niwa (At about this time tomorrow)  
Anata wa doki ni irun darou (I wonder where you'll be)  
Dare wo omotterun darou (I wonder who you'll be thinking of)

You are always gonna be my love (You are always gonna be my love)  
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo (Even if someday, you fall in love with someone else)  
I'll remember to love (I'll remember to love)  
You taught me how (You taught me how)  
You are always gonna be the one (You are always gonna be the one)  
Ima wa mada kanashii love song (For now, it's still a sad love song)  
Atarashii uta utaeru made (Until I can sing a new one)

Tachidomaru jikan ga (The time which has stopped)  
Ugokidasou to shiteru (Is about to start again)  
Wasuretakunai koto bakari (It's just that there are things I don't want to forget)

Ashita no imagoro niwa (At about this time tomorrow)  
Watashi wa kitto naiteru (I'm sure I'll be crying)  
Anata wo omotterun darou (And I'll probably be thinking of you)

You will always be inside my heart (You will always be inside my heart)  
Itsumo anata dake no basho ga aru kara (Because it's a place that will forever be yours alone)  
I hope that I have a place in your heart too (I hope that I have a place in your heart too)

Now and forever you are still the one (Now and forever you are still the one)  
Ima wa mada kanashii love song (For now, it's still a sad love song)  
Atarashii uta utaeru made (Until I can sing a new one)

You are always gonna be my love (You are always gonna be my love)  
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo (Even if someday, you fall in love with someone else)  
I'll remember to love (I'll remember to love)  
You taught me how (You taught me how)  
You are always gonna be the one (You are always gonna be the one)  
Mada kanashii love song (It's still a sad love song)  
Now and forever (Now and forever)"

As Uno sang, she was nervous, but after her first major chord, she forgot the audience was there and cherished the amazing voice she just recently found out she had. She echoed within the building, she shook the minds of those who had disliked her, she brought attention to herself by all she expected and those she had not. Duo's eyes were huge, his mouth ajar. Ricky was pretty much shocked just as Duo, but mainly because she kept singing and facing him, pointing her arm and hand movements in his direction. Heero was shocked as well because he understood all that she was saying, didn't struggle one bit—unless to get the words past shaky lips—and was even more amazed that she _did_ pay attention and learned the language as he had wanted her too.

When Uno finished entirely and the song ended, she had kept her head bowed and softly stated into the mic, "thank you," before exiting.

When the Talent show ended, Duo stepped up to Uno with a big smile on his face.

"Uno! That was good!" Duo chanted.

Uno smiled weakly and faced Ricky "How was it?"

Ricky stared at her in a shocked expression because of the translations and how she practically sang it to _him_. "Uh…it uh…"

"That was beautiful, Uno." Quatre smiled.

"Thank you, Quatre." Uno replied, smiling.

"I especially like how you made your introduction before you sang; that really brought out the wonders of your song." Relena stated, smiling and rubbing the back of Uno's head gently. She faced Heero as he stepped up to the group.

"I guess you passed. You apparently _have_ been paying attention."

Uno giggled.

"Uno." Uno turned around and faced Brittany. "What was all that crap? Glaring us when you were on stage?" Her friends surrounded her in a fashion and mocked at Uno.

"Um…what crap? Is it because I can sing and make my own stuff and you can't?" Uno blinked and shrugged.

"Uh!" Brittany and her friends looked shocked. "I can't believe you just said that! I'm the most popular girl in school; I can ruin you!" Brittany pointed at Uno.

Uno stood there without expression. "Right, and you say all this to me in front of my family. Real bright, Brittany."

"Why not? Better to let them learn now about how fake you really are rather than later on when it'll hurt more." Brittany smirked.

"Brittany, look around you and think wiser. You just got outmatched, the entire audience is watching you get outmatched again, and yet, you try and conquer over Uno! _That's_ very stupid and a quick loss for your side!" Ricky shouted at her and opened his arms to show her the viewing public. Brittany blinked and looked around their surroundings. Uno rolled her eyes and walked away. "Skank." Ricky scoffed Brittany and followed Uno.

Duo blinked and bit his bottom lip. "You know…I have to agree with him. You're worse than Relena." Duo left with Heero who was smirking to meet up with the rest of the group outside at the car.

Uno stopped before leaving the school's building and looked over to where she last saw Mr. Merquise. She blinked and spun around to try and find him. She couldn't and she frowned.

"What?" Ricky asked.

"I can't find Mr. Merky; I saw him when I was on stage." Uno pouted.

"Oh well." Ricky shrugged. "Come on, let's go."

"Okay; but I wanted him to meet Duo."


	24. Talk of The Town

Duo's Child

Chapter 24

The doorbell rang just as Trowa was walking by the front door. He stopped and put his book on the banister of the stairs besides him, and reached to answer the door. When he opened it, he saw Theresa standing on the doorstep, with a purple backpack and a big frog pillow. Trowa blinked and smiled.

"Hello there."

"Hi Trowa." Trowa moved out of the way and Theresa stepped in. "Ricky said he was on his way."

"All right. Uno is probably in the Victorian Wing again. Do you need the directions?" Trowa shut the door and turned to face her.

"Nah; I think I remember the route. I can always ask that scary computer for a print out if I need one." Theresa smiled.

"Alright. Be careful out there." Trowa removed his book from the banister and watched as Theresa disappeared up the stairs into Uno's room. He turned and continued walking down the hallway.

When Theresa entered the Victorian Library, she didn't find Uno anywhere. She looked, but still didn't find her. She stopped in the middle of the main room and blinked in thought before lifting her head back to look up at the tower. She grinned when she spotted Uno sitting and reading.

"Hey Uno!"

"Nanidesu?" Uno replied in Japanese. She was sitting and learning Latin now.

"Come down here, you big butthead!" Theresa frowned and humphed.

"Nani?"

"Please?"

"Nani?"

"Please!!!!" Theresa frowned.

"Nanidesu?"

Theresa sighed heavily and began walking all the many steps and floors until she reached the final step near Uno, swearing made up sounds under her breath. When she finally reached Uno, Uno looked at her and smiled with a big grin.

"Konnichiwa!"

Theresa stared at Uno with a blank face. Uno blinked.

"What's the matter?"

"Ughn…" Theresa collapsed to the stairs and rested her chin on her arms. "What are you reading, _now_?"

"A book of Latin."

"Latin?" Theresa blinked and crawled up to the chair her best friend was sitting in. "What's that?"

"A dead language." Uno replied sullenly. She turned another page.

"Then why are you learning it?" Theresa wondered.

Uno shrugged. "Wufei doesn't have time yet, to teach me Chinese. I know Japanese, I know a tiny bit of Arabian from Quatre—I hear him saying some of those words beneath his breath." Uno giggled. "Quatre's a bad boy. I looked up some of what he said."

"Wow Uno; you know a lot. I hate you!" Theresa turned her back to Uno and folded her arms. She sat there, pouting. "I don't know that much."

Uno blinked at her and smirked. "Obviously not if you're sitting on a flight of stairs that go up four levels with your back to me."

Theresa felt stupid and her face went blank. "Shuddap."

The doorbell ran and Heero didn't feel like getting out of his seat. He was busy actually talking on the phone to somebody. The bell rang again…and again…and again, until he finally had to hang up and go answer it. When he had, he found his clone pressing the button over and over, staring at it as if it were a creation of the Gods. Heero blinked.

"Ricky…stop." Heero stared down at him.

"It sounds funny." Heero blinked again. "It sounds like a wire inside is becoming lose." Ricky looked up at Heero and smiled.

Heero shrugged. "Quatre'll fix it when it needs to be replaced." Heero moved and let Ricky in. He shut the door afterwards and turned to face his clone.

"Where's Uno and Theresa?" Ricky asked, looking up at Heero.

"In the Victorian Library."

"Alright. I'm gonna' go put my stuff up then I'll go frighten them." Ricky smirked as he ran upstairs to Uno's room. When he came back down, Heero stopped him in his tracks. "Huh?"

"I need to speak with you."

"Um…okay." Ricky blinked. "Why?"

Heero turned and headed into the living room to gather his laptop and printed data papers. Ricky followed him in question.

"Heero?"

Heero remained silent and walked out of the living room down the hallway. "Follow me and don't get lost."

Ricky blinked. "Where are you taking me?"

"To the Military Wing." Heero replied flatly. He entered the library and shut the door behind Ricky.

"Military Wing?" Ricky blinked. "What's that?"

"A wing with a military theme to it." Heero reached for the knob of the third door. Quatre had removed the bookcase and refurbished the hidden door.

Ricky's face when blank. "I didn't mean that." He followed Heero in and shut the door behind him.

"Then why did you ask?" Heero replied flatly again and proceeded to the Security Room.

"I mean…why not talk to me out here?"

"Hn." Heero opened the security door when he got there and continued inwards. Ricky paced himself and hurried after Heero.

"Computer; record Militia Office." Heero commanded flatly. Ricky blinked.

"Recording will begin as soon as activity alerts." The computer responded and put a tape into the machine.

"What's that for?" Ricky asked, following Heero out of the security room.

"Security purposes."

Ricky ran again after the door shut behind him and tried to keep up with Heero. He blinked in shock when Heero entered another door he had not entered before. When he entered the new wing, a familiar feel returned to him and made him shiver. He slowed his walking to nearly a halt and looked around. Heero looked over his shoulder.

"Ricky, I said to keep up."

"Huh?" Ricky blinked at Heero. "Oh, right!" He picked up his feet and ran to catch up to him. Heero stepped into a room that was on their left then Ricky entered behind. Heero shut the door behind Ricky and headed to the desk.

"Computer record." Heero looked at Ricky as he sat down. "Ricky, sit." Heero motioned to a chair.

"Um…okay." Ricky sat slowly, feeling really nervous. "What do you want to talk about?"

Heero leaned forward and rested his shoulders on the desk in front of him. He placed his chin in his locked fingers that formed a bridge with his hand and sighed deeply. He looked closely at Ricky and tried to read his eyes.

"Tell me about your father?" Heero began. "What does he do?"

Ricky blinked and felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "Are you going to tell me you're my real dad?"

"Fortunately not." Was Heero's monotone reply.

Ricky sighed. "Phew; that saved me a lot."

"What does your father do?"

"He works for some military program. I don't really know what, though." Ricky looked around the office at to the many maps in the room. "What maps are those?"

"They're of the country before the continent became part of the Earth Sphere Alliance." Heero studied Ricky as best as he could. Ricky was avoiding eye contact and Heero was wondering why.

"Ricky, face me." Ricky turned and faced Heero; Heero could read the worry in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you questioning me?"

Heero narrowed his eyes; Ricky did as well. "I'm asking what your father does. I know you know, so I would like to know as well. You _are_ my clone, after all." Heero smirked. Ricky growled; damn this man has lived with Duo far too long!

"I said he's part of some military program."

"What program?"

"I don't know."

"What do they do?"

"They aid important figureheads."

"What does he do?"

"He's the middle man for ideas and jobs." Ricky looked down to his lap. Heero noticed he was fidgeting.

"What does he make you do?"

Ricky looked up. "Huh?"

"Uno said she noticed a few cuts and bruises on you at random times."

"Oh yeah, that. My dad's always running me heavy, but I've gotten better at it. I'm not so clumsy anymore as I was."

"Why won't you tell me the truth? Your life could be in jeopardy."

Ricky looked at Heero and stayed quiet. He looked down and away. Heero was careful for him, worried about him.

"Why do you care so much about me?" Ricky mumbled.

"Uno likes you and you like her too. I don't think Uno would be a bit happy should you get hurt more than you already do, now."

"I said I'm not so clumsy anymore as I was." Ricky looked up at Heero and growled. "And besides, what do _you_ know about feelings? As I recall hearing Duo talking to Quatre, you don't even know that Relena likes you—whoever _she_ is!"

Heero replied flatly, motionless. "I love Relena and I know she feels the same way about me; she had longer than I felt emotions for anyone else."

Ricky blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"I haven't planned a day where I was going to tell her this, but I _did_ plan to."

Ricky sat there a moment or two longer before lowering his head and his tone of his voice. "Sorry." He looked away.

Heero leaned back in his seat. "So tell me what sort of things your father has you doing?"

"Just reviewing over data papers on statistics and such." Ricky looked up.

"Statistics of what?"

Ricky shrugged. "Numbers; pass codes I believe. Addresses and phone numbers…" Ricky's voice trailed off suddenly and he turned away.

Heero frowned at this. "What?"

"Nothing. Just thought of something." Ricky remained quiet.

"Hm…" Heero furrowed his eye brows and gained another thought. "What does he think about the terrorists?"

"He doesn't like their ideas and thinks it should stop. I don't really care; I just wish everything could stay the same and no haste of death." Ricky blinked and sighed after a second of thought. He lifted his head. "Why?"

Heero slowly smirked and leaned further back in his seat. "I think that's all I need to know."

"Huh?"

"Go on and catch up with Uno. They may still be in the Victorian Library but you might want to target their location from the security room first, just to be sure."

"Okay." Ricky stood and began to leave the room.

"Ricky." Ricky looked over his shoulder before exiting. "Watch your back; there _are_ enemies out there that dislike normal human civilians."

Ricky nodded and left. Heero reclined just a little and put his arms behind his head in thought. So Ricky knew about the terrorists, which means his father did as well; only it wasn't pressed towards the media. Something was up.

"Computer; dislodge recording and file save backup."

That night, Duo was playing chess against Trowa and struggling to overcome the white knight. Duo was growling when Trowa kicked his King off the table. Trowa smirked and leaned back in his seat.

"How could you!" Duo grumbled. "I was unarmed!"

"Duo, you are the invader and I, the invadee. What _your_ back next time."

"Damn you Trowa. I should get you _one_ of these days!"

"I'll keep counting the months." Trowa smirked. He looked up when he saw Heero enter the room with his laptop. "Heero? More research?"

"Where's Uno and her friends?"

"In her room watching anime." Duo responded, cleaning up. "Why?"

"We need to discuss some important matters." Heero typed commands into his laptop.

Duo blinked. "What things?"

Quatre stepped into the room, hearing the topic. "Heero?"

"I asked Ricky what his father knew about the terrorists and their take on it. He was fidgeting the entire time I questioned him about his father's work."

"You probably frightened the poor boy to death." Duo smirked.

"He said his father didn't agree with the terrorists and wished they'd stop the hast of death."

Duo blinked. "Huh?"

Quatre leaned closer. "Heero…they….?"

Heero stared seriously to each of his three fellow comrades. "The media has never recalled to the public about the terrorists and Relena hadn't a clue about it as well."

"So…the only question remaining is…" Trowa trailed off.

"How do they know about it?" Duo finished in a sullen mood. All four of them looked down, feeling disturbed that Ricky knew something about what was going on.

Relena stepped out of the mansion front doors and smiled over to Heero. Heero was standing besides his green classic Firebird, dressed in a nice suit, awaiting Relena. She was clad in red, a color more suitable for Duo, but fashioned in a classier garment than she usually dressed. Her hair was shoulder length and trimmed recently, her bangs fully hanging around her forehead, and her face colored better than ever.

She had defiantly gone elegant for her and Heero's first date.

"Good evening, Heero." Relena curtsied.

Heero smiled just a tad and bowed some before extending his hand out to her. "Relena, you look lovely."

Relena smiled in return. "Why thank you Heero. Would you mind telling me where you are taking me, tonight?"

"And ruin the occasion?" Heero smirked and opened the passenger door, allowing her a seat.

Relena rolled her eyes. "I see Duo has been giving you pointers on the topic of humor." Relena retorted before taking Heero's hand and sitting down.

After the waiter poured both of the diners a glass of luxurious French red wine and left, Heero looked down to his lap and sighed in thought. Relena's hand and his were holding position on top of the table, his fingers twirling around one of her rings.

"Relena."

"Yes Heero?"

"I don't really know how to talk to you on the level you would like me to." Heero looked up at her with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"It's been years since all wars have ended and I've no need to remain an emotionless human being, but I don't know the ways of releasing my feelings towards other people."

Relena relaxed and smiled a bit. "I see. You wish to tell me what you feel about me."

Heero sighed a bit. "I enjoy spending time with you and being near you makes me feel stronger."

"I've always felt strong when around you. That is why I chased you down so many times in the past."

Heero smirked and sighed heavily at that. Relena tilted her head, smiling.

"Heero?" Heero looked up to face her. "I love you, Heero. You've known _that_ for years."

Heero nodded. "I have."

"Then what is it?" She noticed Heero was staring down.

"I'm worried for you." Heero faced her, sadness creeping in his face.

"What do you mean?"

"There are enemies out there, watching everything that's going on and we don't know where and when they will attack first. The wars have all ended, but there are terrorists and, unfortunately, we think Ricky's father is behind it." Heero's eyes trailed over to where their hands were locked in place. "I'm just worried that something may happen."

"Heero," Relena began. "I believe in you. I followed your pledge during the White Fang war and believed in you. I wasn't afraid when Mareimaia had kidnapped me and you threatened to blow up the mayors house; I felt you knew what to do and trusted you."

Heero kept his eyes on their locked hands. "I think Ricky knows stuff and won't tell me. He was nervous earlier today when I was questioning him. Quatre and Duo were about to view the recording before I left to come get you." Heero faced Relena. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me. I'm right here. I will always be here; for you." Relena smiled. She so badly wanted to kiss him right then, to make it their first kiss, but the blasted table was in her damn way!

That night, Heero was walking Relena up the steps to her door, holding her hand in his arm. He kept his head down as Relena looked around. She smiled as they neared her front door.

"I had a wonderful night. Thank you, Heero." Relena faced him.

"Hn." Heero kept his head down. His heart was beating fast and he didn't know what to do.

Relena frowned a little. "Heero?"

"I enjoyed the night, too."

He looked at Relena and felt relaxed when she smiled in return. He looked back down and wrapped his arms around her body for an intimate hug. Relena blinked and returned the hug. She was waiting for his kiss.

Heero parted and stepped back a foot or two, waiting for her to turn and go inside. Relena sighed lightly and stifled a weak smile. She wanted him to kiss her so badly, but she knew when he took his two back steps, that he wouldn't. Instead, she stifled her smile a little longer and turned to go inside. As the door shut, she watched him the best she could until the final _click_ told her the door had closed all the way. She leaned her head down and pressed her forehead against the door, sighing heavily.

"If only he had kissed me." She murmured almost silently to herself. Her eyes partially shut and she relived the night in her mind.


	25. The Work of The Devil

Duo's Child

Chapter 25

Uno stepped into her class five minutes late on a Monday morning. Everyone's head turned to look at her and Mr. Merquise looked up from the overhead projector. A few kids snickered about her being late. Theresa relaxed when she saw her friend enter.

"Wow, Uno's late for a first time." Doug chuckled.

"Doug." Mr. Merquise pointed at him and tilted his head forward. Doug looked back down to his paper.

Uno sat down in her seat and put her bag on the floor. She began digging in her bag to get the utensils she needed.

"Sorry for being late; I was up really late last night."

Mr. Merquise nodded. "Stay after class five minutes before lunch."

Uno shrugged. Theresa leant forward and whispered into her ear.

"What were you doing so late?"

"Uno, you need a pencil and paper. Theresa, get back to work." Mr. Merquise pulled the paper down to another word on their spelling quiz.

Heero walked out of a jewelry store around lunch time with a loaded bag of fashion. He figured to start spending his savings and not on hardware for machines. He felt he could spend _some_ of it on Relena, like the diamond nestled in a 24 carrot gold band engagement ring he knew he'd use eventually; it was on sale now.

He carried the bag under his arm down the path of the sidewalk peering into the store front windows as he walked by. One store caught his eye but he knew well enough to block the urge of going in…even _if_ they were having a clearance sale of all laptop hardware.

Heero took a deep and heavy sigh as he turned the corner of the sidewalk and followed more store front windows and signs down the path. Lingerie, clothing boutiques, game stores and video stores; the city had a whole lot of stuff and most of it was going on sale.

Looking around at all the people, he began feeling a little out of place as he was alone and most were coupled up; those who were alone where there for a certain purpose and not to walk around, as he was. Either way, he smirked and lowered his head. He didn't mind; he enjoyed humanity being active as it is.

He continued on his way towards the garage where his jeep was parked when he crossed paths with a black SUV. Heero slowed his steps as he noticed the people in the vehicle where just sitting there, not doing a thing, and following him with their faces. He looked back ahead of him to the other cars and grunted a little.

He was being followed.

Heero kept his chin up and acted just the way he had when he fought against Oz. He acted as if nothing went wrong and when he got to his green off road jeep, tossed in the bag of jewelry and turned around to automatically duck. A fist came at him but Heero managed to duck just in time to dodge and send the fist into the metal safety bars of the jeep. On instinct, he sent his left fist directly into the other mans stomach, sending shivers of pain to creep up and down his spine.

The man backed away and groaned but Heero knew he wasn't down for the count. He stepped away from his jeep and prepared himself for the fight as the enemy assassin took out a knife from his back pocket. Heero frowned and got prepared for the attack when the man leaped at him and charged, knife aiming directly at his chest. Heero dove to the side and got up to his feet quickly, back his elbow into the man's spine and slammed his body against the jeep. The man grunted dropping the knife and Heero spun around on his heels. The man turned to face him and tried to attack, but Heero dodged again and brought his knee up to the man's stomach.

The man froze in spot and when Heero released his grasp, fell to the floor in a heap. Heero stepped back, breathing very heavy, and kept his eyes on the unconscious man. He looked over to the SUV to see if anyone else was about to come out but when they found him looking at them, sped off, nearly hitting several civilians.

Heero looked back down at the lump of trash by his feet and knelt down to get a good look at him. He rolled the man to his back and felt around for a wallet. He found one and inside was a card that read Synodd. Heero blinked and turned it over; there was a name on the back sketched around as a signature.

Heero took a heavy sigh and put the wallet in his own back pocket. As he stood up, he took the man's arms and lifted the man to the jeep. He moved his bag of bought items to the front passenger seat and laid the man down in the back.

When he sat down, he looked back at the man through the mirror and grunted again.

"So what's the case of terrorism now?"

"Uno!" Uno paushed hearing Ricky's voice and grabbed Theresa's arm. Theresa blinked and looked back at her friend.

"What?"

"Ricky." Uno replied monotone. She turned and looked at Ricky with a smile.

"Hey! I was wondering, you wanna' come over today and hang out at my place?" Ricky asked, looking at Uno and Theresa. "Just for a little bit before the meet tonight."

"Sure." Uno smirked. "I can kick you butt at home too."

"Yeah, right!" Ricky joked. Theresa blinked.

"What's going on?"

"Ricky and I are in the track meet tonight, competing against each other."

"I'm gonna' win!" Ricky cheered.

"No way; I've practiced way too much to lose to you!" Uno snarled back.

"Oh yeah?!" Ricky gripped his fists and came close to her face, growling.

"Yeah!" Uno did the same.

Theresa blinked. "Um…guys?"

"What?!" Ricky and Uno screamed at Theresa.

Theresa froze. "Remind me to ask if your parents if you're screwed up in the head." Theresa murmured to herself.

Uno backed away fast and blinked. "Oh wait; I can't go to your place."

Ricky slumped. "Why not?"

"Mr. Merky wants me to stay for tutoring."

Ricky and Theresa blinked in shock and dropped both their mouths.

"But Uno, you're the smartest kid in the entire class! What do _you_ need help with?!" Theresa asked.

Uno shrugged. "He said he wants to challenge me."

"What kind of challenge?" Ricky blinked in question.

Uno shrugged again. "I don't know; just said he wanted to give me some kind of test."

"Oh well." Ricky slumped again. "I guess some other time then."

Heero walked into the kitchen and found Duo and Quatre having a weird conversation. He stopped in his tracks when he heard the words that really frightened him the most coming from Quatre.

"I think a diet will be good for me."

"Quatre…you're not even a hundred pounds!" Duo freaked. "What weight do _you_ gotta' lose?"

"Well…I have extra fat on my bones that I don't need. You and Trowa are about the same way; you both say I don't need to lose any weight."

"Duo's right; you don't. Duo has the weight gain problem; if you're looking for muscle just workout." Heero stepped around the two of them to the sink and washed his hands.

"Heero…that fit but was still un called for." Duo groaned. "Any who, what was going on with you, today?"

"Market."

"Ah, ya' buy any more hardware?" Duo gave Heero a 'thumbs up'. Around this time, Trowa and Wufei walked in, discussing the design qualities of the first space shuttles centuries ago.

"No, jewelry. Relena and I are steady." Heero reached for a paper towel.

"You wah?" Duo froze in fear. "Please, whatever you do, do _not_ mate with her!"

Trowa and Wufei paused and blinked at Duo with question. Quatre giggled a bit.

"If you and her mate and have children, it'll be the end of the world! We won't know whether or not your kids will be pacifists or machines like yourself! Hell, they may even be both; pacifist but piss 'em off and you got some deadly virus on your hands."

Quatre giggled. "Duo, your thoughts never cease to make me laugh."

"Well…he's right about that." Wufei spoke up.

"Thank you, Wufei! You see my point." Duo cheered on his Chinese comrade.

"I was talking about Quatre, not you." Duo felt stupid after Wufei said that.

"I was attacked today." Heero spoke up. "An assassin charged at me."

"Are you serious?!" Quatre panicked. Heero through away the paper towel and nodded.

"A new company named Synodd." Heero leant against the counter. "He's not dead."

"Then what did you do with him?" Trowa asked.

"He's in the back of the jeep, right now."

"Heero!" Duo shouted. Heero blinked. "This isn't some stray puppy you can bring home to keep!"

Heero blinked and shrugged and looked away. "What's the matter, Duo? Don't want to torture him for enemy information?"

Duo sweat-dropped. "Eh…good point."

"You mean use that torture room?" Wufei asked. Heero nodded.

"Yes! I get to torture! Wahoo!" Duo shouted for joy then looked back at Quatre. "And we'll have the whole thing recorded so you can get the audio and such and find out all ya' need!" Duo grinned.

"Duo…you're frightening me." Quatre backed away a bit.

"He's in the jeep, unconscious right now. You may want to begin very soon before he wakes up; or at least put him in the confinement room until you want to begin." Heero stated, as a-matter-of-fact.

"Good point." Duo stated, a finger pointed at Heero.

Duo and Uno came in through the front door that evening with a grin plastered on their faces. Duo was holding Uno's massive trophy while Uno was smiling big about it all and talking about the race. Quatre and Trowa came in behind her and shut the door.

"Look Heero!" Duo stepped up to Heero in the living room. "Another trophy to add to the wall of plaques and the like that she accumulated over the past few months."

Heero looked at it; it looked half the size of Uno. He smirked and looked back down to his laptop.

"Good meet." Heero stated.

"Yep!" Uno smiled. "I kicked Ricky'a butt and made him mad!"

"Why would you want to make him mad?" Duo asked.

"Because he's a big poo-poo-head and deserves just that!" Uno nodded and her braid flipped around. Duo chuckled and turned to go down the hallway.

"I had better put this up with the rest of the set before it breaks."

"Duo, head to the Medieval Wing when you're finish and wait for me in the in the living room there." Heero stood up and tucked his laptop under the couch. "I'm heading towards the Military Wing."

"Sure thing." Duo paused and looked back at Uno. "Why don't you go bathe and do your homework then I'll tuck you in."

"Okay!"

It was dark and he didn't know how long he was sitting in this dark room. It was cold, he couldn't move because of the straps holding him down on some uncomfortable chair, and the chair itself was bolted to the ground. It was torture sitting in the room for what felt like hours and probably was.

He thought he heard noises, but that's also because it was so quiet in there he could hear his own heart beat, thumping beneath his ribs, telling him he's in extreme danger. He grumbled beneath his breath, feeling stupid for charging an attack at the enemy when he was told precisely _not_ to do that.

"Just my luck," the man coughed while he smirked against his will. "I follow an order the way I was commanded _not_ to do, and I get caught."

The man coughed a few times and tried to look around some more, but still he saw nothing. He sighed and hung his head in shame.

"I just hope this guy's gonna' kill me fast cuz I ain't saying a damn thing."

"That's too bad." Came another voice. The man lifted up his head. "Because he's going to do just the opposite."

"Whose there!" The man looked around. "Argh, it's too dark and I can't see a damn thing!"

"Too bad once again." The voice sounded soft and determined.

"Who the hell are you?! I demand that you tell me!"

"Demands," The voice paused. "Now that's not very nice."

"Just shut up and do as I say!" The man could feel his own saliva falling from his lips but he didn't care; he didn't want to be tied down like he was.

A light spot opened up and blinded him for a moment, until he realized that a door had opened.

"Trowa, Duo's on his way down here. Let's go ahead and get him ready."

The lights turned on and blinded the man tremendously. The man felt four hands grasping him and a cold metal object hit the side of his face. When his eye sight returned, he saw a Colt .35 in his face and dead set eyes that he had fought earlier holding it against him.

"Stand up." Said Heero. The man stood, keeping his head at a lower angle to glare at his captor, and did as directed.

"Start walking." Heero kept his voice harsh and Trowa got in front of them to open the doors and guide them around. He held his sub machine gun at the man's chest and back at the random times he was near.

"What the…" The man's voice trailed down as Heero and Trowa led him downstairs into the basement and torture room.

"We would have placed you in the cells, but considering you're our enemy, you probably know how to pick the locks." Trowa stated, coming around in front to clean off one of the tables with straps.

"Plus, no telling if those bars are any good to use." Trowa watched as Heero forced the man down on the table and aimed his gun in his face. The man sat but wouldn't lay back.

"If you want me to comply so badly, you'd shoot me to get it done. I ain't moving!" Heero cocked the .35 and aimed it at his nose. "Nope!"

"Then we'll just have to do it the hard way." A new voice came out and all three looked over to see another person, dressed entirely in black with a black tank top on and a long braid. Heero blinked at him as did Trowa. The man grimaced.

"What is this? A party?"

Duo was walking into the room with a bag and placed the bag on the table near one of the chalk boards and desks. Heero had never seen Duo so intent on his life the way he is seeing now and Trowa was too busy staring at Duo's look. He didn't know how to word it correctly, but Duo looked…_different_…somehow. He looked thinner than usual; leaner and slender, sexier. His arms and chest looked more muscular, like they're not his own flesh and blood.

_It's just gotta' be the clothes._ Trowa thought to himself. Duo's tight black jeans made his ass look hot, his shirt made his chest look tougher. Even the boots he walked around with were a different pair, thicker, heavier, and harder on the soul; every footstep could be heard.

"Now if it were a party, I wouldn't come prepared with tools of confrontation." Duo said, smiling over at the man as he opened a few drawers of the desk, obviously looking for something. "I'd bring favors and the likes of fun stuff. Trowa, Heero, strap him down for me, will ya?"

Duo brought out a stack of papers and sifted through them. Heero and Trowa nodded and put both their hands on the man. They managed to push him down against the table enough to hold him there, but whenever they released one hand he made an attempt to flee.

"You know…escaping from an enemy grasp is the wrong thing to do sometimes." Duo skimmed through a few paragraphs on a paper, not even looking up. "Sometimes the enemy has a tool that'll stunt you and you won't know what to do." Duo looked up from the papers and smiled grimly.

The man was groaning and screaming, trying to break free and not get tied down. Duo stood up and starting reading through all the old data entries and notes from the past people who were tortured here. The man grunted as Trowa strapped his right hand down to the arm of the table and Heero with his left leg. The two of them finally managed to get the enemy strapped down entirely, even his forehead, to the table. Duo, still scanning the paragraphs, came around the front of the table.

"Thank you, Trowa; Heero." Duo looked up at the man and Trowa began walking out of the room, his sub machine gun hanging on his back. "Tell me, do you know what a means of a quick death costs?"

"A what?" The man asked angrily for having to be tied down like some rodent.

"A means of a quick death is to extract all life from the human body without the intense pleasure of torture and confrontation." Heero backed away a few steps as Duo stepped up in his place.

"What are you getting at?!" The man screamed.

"I'm not going to let you have that. I have questions to ask and I want you to answer them for me." Duo stated, calmly.

"No!"

Duo nodded and smiled. "Just the answer I predicted." Duo looked up at Heero. "Heero, is the security system recording this?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." Duo grinned back down at the man.

"Let me out of this! I'll have your head!"

"Not before I take yours." Duo said, as a-matter-of-fact. "Actually, I wonder just how long the human body can last before its system shut down. These papers here…" Duo trailed off, looking at the paper in his hands, "well, it says you can last up from four hours up to two days with intensive pain; let's test that theory."

"Like hell you're going to do anything to me! Release me, now; damn it!"

Duo shook his head and handed the papers over to Heero. Heero walked to the desk to put them away.

"Such shame, I can't." Duo pouted guiltily. He received his bag from Heero and placed it on the table besides the man. He opened the bag up and took out a pair of pliers. He grinned when he brought them out.

"Like hell you're going to do anything to me!"

"How very strange." Duo grinned. "For I come from hell as well."

From the living room where Trowa was just walking by on his way out of the Medieval Wing, a loud shriek could be heard and it sent a shiver down his spine.

_I didn't think Duo could actually have it in him to do this stuff._ Trowa happily left the wing to return to the group in the security room.

"My, you sure do scream a lot." Duo chuckled, putting the bloody pliers down on the table where his bag sat. He took out a bunch of other tools after that. "I almost wonder exactly how you can call yourself an enemy if you can't take a little pain."

"You call that…pain?! That's agony!" The man shouted. "You mental fuck! You just ripped out my nails from my hand!"

"Yes, and if you shout at me once more with foul language, I'll rip them out from your other hand." Duo eyed him.

Heero swallowed back the saliva stuck in his throat; he never saw Duo so determined and evil like this before.

"Argh…fuck..." The man shut his eyes feeling a bit dizzy.

"That's better." Duo grinned. "Now…what's your name?"

"…"

Duo took the razor blade and dragged it down the man's arm lightly, cutting only the top layers of skin just enough to cause him pain. The man winced and groaned.

"Davison." Davison's teeth gritted together.

Duo lifted up the pliers and a thin cord and began wrapping it around the man's arm in a snake-like fashion from his shoulder down to his wrist.

"Good." Nodded Duo. "Now, tell me…who do you work for?" Duo twisted the cord around when it finished its twist and tightened the hold of it on his arm. Davison winced in pain.

"Sy…Synodd!" He groaned out loud. "Gah, it burns!"

Duo nodded with a smile. "Of course, silly! That's why it's called torture!"

Heero blinked. Duo was having a blast.

"Now…who do you work for? Who's your superior?" The man grunted and when he didn't answer Duo, the cord was tightened and began digging into his flesh. The man screamed out loud in agony as blood began to seep out around the cord.

"Who…do you…work for?!" Duo shouted, getting pissed.

"A man named Clifford!"

"And what does this Clifford do?!" Duo tightened the cord even more and the blood flowed harder now, the color deeper and richer.

"He's the sergeant patrol leader of the science division of Synodd!"

Duo paused and blinked over at Heero. "Science Division?" He looked back down to the mans twisted face.

"Ughn…uhg…yeah…" The man relaxed a little, his voice calmer. "Synodd has a science division with plays around with the idea of life and mecha together, as one."

"Together as one?" Duo blinked in question.

"Yeah…"

"What do they do?" Duo tied the cord together and took a scalpel to the man's chest and ripped open his shirt.

"I told you what they do." The man's eyes looked down to follow Duo's moves. "And what are you going to do with that?"

"You _didn't_ tell me what they do." Duo dragged the scalpel down the front of the man's ribcage and sliced the skin apart. The man screamed out loud.

"I told you! They mess with the idea of life…and mecha…together as one!" The man screamed again as Duo finished around his waistline. "Nobody can get into that division to even _see_ what they're doing…unless they part of it or…of the higher levels!"

Duo looked up and over at Heero with weary in his face. Heero was feeling uneasy, but stepped up to the table anyways.

"What do you know about Ricky Tanners?"

"Who?" The man asked in agony.

"Ricky Tanners." Heero repeated.

"Just some kid from one of the higher ups." The man groaned and laid his head back against the table. Duo and Heero looked up at each other with worry in their faces. Duo looked back down and slowly slid the scalpel into the man's body deeper at the beginning of the cut.

"What else do you know about him?"

"Aagh!" The man screamed in pain. "Nothing! I can't talk to him; I said he's one of the council men! There's no way to speak with him!"

"And of Ricky?!" Duo flung the scalpel down the mans body and slid more skin apart. The man screamed out in extreme pain and felt his body going numb.

"Heero, get me the shot there on the table." Duo nodded against the wall far back against the room. "That'll make him stay awake." Heero turned to get it. The man was about to pass out and Duo wanted him to stay alive.

When he returned, he gave it to Duo and Duo shoved the needle into the man's non-bleeding arm. The man winced again.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I want information." Duo growled. "And you'll comply until you're dry of it all."

"Does this Ricky child have any relatives? A brother or just his father? How often to you see him around?" Heero questioned, placing the empty needle on the desk.

"I don't think he's got any family besides his dad. And I've only seen him a few times."

Duo began undoing the man's belt. "And what does he look like?"

"Ughn…he's tall for his age…always wild…and a mean little punk that hates the world. He's much like his father; a bitch at all times and hell when ya' piss 'em off."

The man's eyes wouldn't shut despite how tired he felt. Duo had Heero help undress him down to his bare body with only a necklace on; not even underwear.

"What's with the…nakedness?"

"I ask the questions around here!" Duo shouted at him, grabbing his hair and pulling it out. The man winced; whatever shot they gave him sent all his senses alert and he was unable to rest yet he received all the pain times two.

"Heero, give me that stick lying over there on the ground!" Duo snapped at Heero and nodded at a wooden stick on the floor by the rest of the tools that came with the room.

Duo looked back down to the man and growled. "I don't think this is the same kid."

"Are you sure?" Heero asked, handing Duo the stick.

"Yeah…Davison!" Duo pulled his hair again and he groaned out loud. "What military aid program is there?!"

"Ughn…m-military aid…program?" He screamed out loud when Duo twisted his shoulder length hair around the stick and twisted it some into a knot. "It's…it's just some program that…that watches over the…figure heads….the important people…" The man was in too much pain to go on and Duo didn't stop any time soon.

Duo looked up at Heero who was, in turn, thinking. "Sound about right, Heero?"

"Hm…is this Tanner, or whoever he is, is he part of this unit?" Heero asked sullenly.

The man grunted in pain. "Ugh..I…I don't…think…so. That unit is against us." Davison's eyes shut and he breathed heavy. "They…against our…science division. They want us to stop."

"Stop what?" Duo twisted again and blood began to slowly ooze out of the man's scalp.

"Arg! We're designing a program like theirs! They just want us to quit! That's all!"

"Heero?" Duo looked up, holding the knot firmly in his hands.

"I think it's a load of bull. Why were you attacking me?" Duo growled and turned the stick again. More blood spilled out and hair was pulled out of the roots. The man screamed and fought to come up with an answer, but couldn't.

"He's lying; there is no program and the entire thing was a bluff." Heero stated coldly.

"You sure?" Duo asked. Heero nodded.

"Why were you trying to kill me?!" Heero punched the side of his face, which in turn snapped it to another direction and caused more hair to be pulled out.

"I was hired! Synodd hired me to assassinate you!"

"Why?!" Heero punched him again.

"They didn't tell me! All I know about Synodd is what I conjure up! They tell me nothing! I swear it!"

Heero growled and struck him once again. Duo turned the stick, able to twist it more to tighten it again as Heero has loosened up more hair from it.

"Damn Heero…_I_ want to kill him!" Duo frowned. Heero backed away and sighed deepily.

"Ughn…" Davison groaned. Duo looked down at him and frowned.

"Hush you." Duo looked over at Heero. "Huh?"

"I think I'm finished down here."

"Thank God." Davison murmured. Duo growled and stabbed the scalpel in one of the man's nuts. The man screamed fiercely out loud.

"Well I'm not." Duo growled satanically, glaring in the man's eyes and grinning the same time.

Heero left the room and by the time he reached the main floor, ran directly towards the bathroom to go throw up. This entire thing a very bad idea and sickened him tremendously. He spent about five to ten minutes in the bathroom, constantly throwing up one after another, of spills.

When he walked out, he remained very calm. Quatre came onto the sound system.

"Heero? Be sure to go to the second floor and get cleaned up in the Sanitizer Room. Please?"

"Quatre? You were watching this the entire time?" Heero paused in the living room and looked up to question.

"Yeah, and it didn't make me feel that well either. I don't think there's anything wrong with Ricky; I think he's safe on the subject. But I do believe Duo's enjoyed the task a little too much; especially right now."

"What's he doing?" Heero asked, heading up the stairs to the second floor.

"He's dismantling Davison's body, beginning with his testicles."

Duo stepped into the living room about four hours later when Heero was doing something on the laptop and Quatre and Trowa were watching the news. He grinned when he dropped his bag behind the back of the couch and stretched. Quatre blinked at the clothes he was wearing.

"I never saw you dressed like that before, Duo." Quatre smiled weakly.

"Man…that sanitizer room makes my body tingle all over!" Duo smiled, and then frowned. "But it didn't get all the frikkin' blood off of me!"

"Duo…" Quatre sighed.

"Yeah yeah, I know I know. Chill with the disgusting facts, right?" Duo rolled his eyes and picked up his bag again. "Where's Uno?"

"What did you do with the body?" Quatre asked. "I put her to sleep about three hours ago."

"Eh?" Duo looked at the clock. "Wow…one in the morning…hadn't a clue! Oh, I dumped it in the trash pit."

Heero stood up and walked down the hallway.

"Where's he going?" Duo asked.

"Heero's got some things to attend to in the morning. Wufei's already asleep so please don't make too much noise and Trowa and I are about to get to bed as well."

"Ah, okay. I got work at eleven tomorrow so I can rest and sleep in." Duo grinned.

Trowa sighed and stood up shaking his head. Quatre turned off the television.

"What?" Duo asked.

"Nothing Duo." Quatre placed his hand on Duo's shoulder. "We're tired and just going to bed. Don't stay up too late and please turn off all the lights when you're done."

"Gotcha'!" Duo grinned and winked. Quatre rolled his eyes.


	26. Impossible Paths

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**Note to Readers:** _This chapter has _NEVER _before been seen by any eyes… not even my own! A somewhat short chapter, but what all can I put in?_

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Duo's Child

Chapter 26

It was about one thirty in the morning when Duo came home from work. They didn't get to close on time due to a tragic accident only a few miles away and desperate citizens who needed some sort of transportation by the early hours of the morning—only two hours away. Duo was the first one to rush the mechanics back to work before they all left and immediately set to work on the totaled vehicles all while getting the new cars for the customers. Hell, if not _for _Duo, Citywide Specialists would have shut down months ago; he's kept it running clean better than the damn boss had!

By the time he reached the stairs he felt as if he had another thousand feet left to walk. The hallway was pitch black, the stairs looked as if it were ascending into another level of Hell, and above all, he wasn't sure if he could make it fully up there without tripping over himself. When he finally managed to tumbled through his bedroom door, the glow of the Grim Reaper Halloween figure lighting a reddish-yellow and orange hue across his room from his bed side table, he causally shut the door, dropped his things on the floor, and dragged his feet several steps before letting go of his strength and allowing himself to fall face first onto his bed, his room light never even touched.

As soon as he fell against his black satin sheets, he was quickly drowned to sleep.

Uno and Theresa were laughing to a CD Ricky had made them for the drive home from their college entrance exams. He created his own Techno with the help from Quatre's Recording Studio, added in a few jokes from old late night show skits, and even a few secretly recorded tapes from the school itself. They were currently laughing their asses off to a skit he recorded from Johnson losing a battle against one of his many girlfriends.

"Ricky is so… hah hah!" Theresa was too busy laughing her ass off to finish. Uno wiped a few tears away from her eyes before shifting back down to fourth gear from her cruising speed.

"That's why he put them in; he knows what people want." Uno was smiling and stopped for a red light. Theresa sniffled back a few happy tears and looked out the window at their surroundings.

"Hey, you know… Citywide Specialists has a new offer on brand new sport bikes; I heard Ray's getting one." She smiled over at her best friend. Uno nodded her head.

"That's where Quatre got my car," she stopped to glance around their sides before driving on. "After your mom dropped me off—before my party when I turned seventeen—there was this awesome black Dodge Stealth sitting on the driveway and when I asked him about it, he just handed me the key's as if I should have expected it!"

"Wow," Theresa slowly shook her head, her mouth parted in awe. "I wish my parents were that cool for me. All I got for my eighteenth gift was a trip to go to Hawaii by myself with Ray."

"But you had fun… right?" Uno smiled over at Theresa before grinning. "You had _lots_ of fun."

"Hey!" Theresa snapped her head at Uno with a growl. "Don't you bring that up; it hurt… losing my virginity in the shower. It was fun and it felt great… but it hurt." Theresa sighed and frowned a bit. "Besides, what about you and Ricky?" She faced Uno, who in turn stayed quiet. "Aren't you two going steady after graduation?"

"Yeah… Quatre's letting him move in because his dad's got a transfer over to some new company over in California Territory. Johnson's moving into the penthouse that his girlfriends live and work in—he's got it made with all the free sex he wants and his new job." Theresa busted out laughing and Uno giggled. "Who knew that crack addict became a porn star."

"Man Uno… your dad kicks total ass!" Uno was grinning.

"Yep," She nodded. "He's never been so proud in all his life, he told me."

"I wish he had adopted me from my family… my parents are cool too but not _that_ cool." Theresa looked out the window as they drove down the beach side with enormous palm trees that towered over them. She turned back to face Uno with a question. "Does he know about you and Ricky?"

Uno blinked for a moment and shifted into fifth gear. "You mean at the party?"

"Any of it?" Theresa cocked her head to the side. "Does he know at all?"

"No… Ricky and I keep that subject entirely hush-hush. He gets the pill for me from Johnson's girls and technically… we haven't done it in one month."

"One month!!" Theresa's eyes were huge. "Uno! That's a record for you!"

"Oh hush…" Uno glared her best friend before the two of them laughed again.

Uno entered the freeway and sped up past a hundred. She dodged each car that was in her way and Theresa leaned back in her seat. She used to be scared of the way Uno drove but she got use to it when Uno proved herself that she could dodge attacks—and done so at least a dozen times. Uno had _excellent_ maneuvering capabilities.

"So," Theresa turned to her friend again, her brown hair with golden tips toppled over onto one side of her face and styled in a sexy position. Uno's, on the other hand, was streaked with white and semi-curled, cut just barely above her shoulders, and—according to Ricky—better than any girl he's ever seen with and without makeup on their face.

"Do you think you passed the entrance exams?"

"Definitely. You?" Uno looked over before cutting someone off the road at a hundred and ten miles an hour. Theresa looked down. "Theresa… I helped tutor you! Me _and_ Mr. Merquise! You couldn't have done _that_ horrible…" Her brows furrowed.

"I didn't… I just barely passed but that test _was_ hard. I mean, it was like they_ knew_ I hung out with you."

Uno shrugged. "Maybe they did?"

"But… now that my parents know I've passed, they both agreed to pay for my first few months of my apartment. I don't really want to… but… they're deciding to move after all these years. They've built that house and it's all I know… and now they're selling it." Theresa frowned and looked down.

"You know my house…" Uno pouted over as she slowed the speed of the car down some.

"Yeah but…"

"Move in with us." Uno cut people off the road as she directed the car towards the off-ramp. Theresa looked up at her friend. "You're going to the same University as me and Ricky; I'm sure Ray is still there. You and I will dorm together when the time comes and until then, Quatre's got over a thousand free rooms in the entire place. I doubt he'll have a problem sparing some."

"Are you serious?" Theresa's eyes enlargened.

Uno nodded. "Entirely. Ricky already practically moved in anyways." Uno giggled.

"Man Uno…" Theresa sat back in her chair once again as the blur of more palm trees raced by her window. "I so wish Quatre would have adopted me as well… but my parents had to hide during those stupid wars."

Uno shrugged. "At least you have parents. I've lived in the orphanage until I was seven. Quatre then adopted me and enrolled me into the Winner Academy several weeks later—after I got used to him and that big house—_and_ made myself a room." Uno looked at Theresa. "Then I met you and Ricky in Mr. Merquise's history class and we all three hit it off there."

"Yeah I remember that… damn that's so long ago. I met Ray through a track meet; I was the fastest girl and he was the fastest guy but we both scored a tie."

"And then you both scored entirely not long after…" Uno grinned.

"Shuddap!" Theresa looked away. "At least I _lost_ mine ahead of time!"

Uno laughed loudly as she pulled up to a stop sign. She covered her mouth with her unused driving hand and looked over at Theresa.

"And you think I wanted too after Brittany came to school, paled as a ghost because she got AID's from one of the football people? Hah! That little slut deserved it all… fucking four guys at once." Uno cleared her throat and wiped away a few laughing tears. "Please, Ricky and I decided to get tests before we did anything and Johnson helped us out with that."

"What happened to Brittany?" Theresa turned to face Uno, the laughter dead in the air and a bit of seriousness sparking their faces. Uno turned around the block of a shopping center. "She committed suicide before her parents found out. The rest of the cheerleading team told her parents and then it just died. I found out because Quatre was part of the P.T.O. for the school funding."  
Theresa scoffed then. "I can't believe he agreed to have us all in uniforms."

Uno shrugged. "I'm used to it… the orphanage—we _always_ had uniforms. When Quatre took me in and let me buy what I want I didn't know what to do."

Uno pulled off the shopping district block and headed down one of the main paths toward the mansion. Over the past few course of the years Quatre's helped funded the entire city to help bring it out of the slums and into one of the richest neighborhoods in all of the Earth Sphere. Where they were driving now used to be nothing but a marsh only five years before.

"So what do you want to do?" Theresa looked over.

Uno blinked for a moment. "I want to go into something dealing with computers—hacking and piracy—but Quatre doesn't appreciate it. I mean, I'm great with computers and I ace every test thrown at me… I learned DOS in only a matter of days, the hardware and software performances of all the systems in only a matter of weeks… and the BIOS only took about a few hours with the right tools. I'm trying to learn Binary right now but that's tricky; Mr. Merquise is helping me some."

Theresa rolled her eyes. "Next time in English, Uno. I think you forget I'm not as computer literate as you are."

"…Oops…" Uno smirked and shrugged. "I forget… Anywho, when Quatre had that meeting two nights ago with Mr. Merquise, well… I think they knew each other before."

"Really?" Uno nodded. "Damn Uno… you know the entire world, don't you?"

"Well… Quatre said he and Zechs—Mr. Merquise's real name—both fought in the wars; originally as enemies, then some what became allies… then ended as opponents again."

"Ah… I see." The trees came into view and Theresa saw the Winner mansion up ahead. "So… you going into computers?"

"I'd like to, as much as I know, but no. I'm going to try and become a singer."

"Wow… I'm impressed, really." Theresa released her safety belt. "I mean, for real, Uno. You've got the most beautiful voice I've ever heard and with Ricky's help, you're going to become the best ever."

"You should join in…" Uno pulled up to a spot underneath the over hang by the front door. She looked down the road and felt a proud sense of fame when she looked at the trees she remembered talking Quatre into planting along the path and around the lands to give a more dramatic entrance.

"I can't… cartooning is entirely different." Theresa shut the door and stepped around the nose of the vehicle.

"So… Ricky's going into music _and_ Disc Jockeying and I'm going into signing—_still_ with a major in computers. You don't think all this hacking and specialty in piracy is going to go to waste, do you?" Uno grinned. She and Theresa stepped up to the front door.

"You should send in an application to the Preventers… I hear they're pretty good with their computers and you can help stop wars from happening." Uno scoffed and opened up the door.

"Sorry, but I am _not_ a people person." Theresa giggled before shutting the door behind herself.

"So what happened to the rest of the people that we asked Quatre about?" Theresa spoke up as she followed Uno up the stairs to the far back room on the second floor. Quatre gave her this room when she turned sixteen because of the beautiful view out the window and the enormous balcony overlooking her forest—the forest Uno begged for him to plant when she was younger.

"Well… after you, Ricky, and Ray left that night I asked him why it was a touchy subject for him to breach." Uno stepped into her room where the classy colors of cream, white, and yellow rushed towards her. She had Relena's help on decorating her room when she learned the big difference between man and woman. Relena had become almost a best friend to her and if not for Relena, Uno would have still been too tomboyish to even care that she bled every month as a normal cycle. Quatre was an excellent father and friend figure, but he was no woman; he introduced her to Relena when he needed to touch up on the more feminine sides and since then, the three of them have lived happily.

Uno sat down on her elegant, lavender canopy draped, bed and watched as Theresa sat down on the cushiony cream and gold ottoman near the foot of the bed. Both of them were sitting with their legs in the Indian-styled position, the way girls usually hang out.

"He was still a bit weak on the subject but he had enough energy in him to talk about it. He said the entire topic—since Mr. Merquise had us talking about the wars and even _he _was a bit shaky about it all—was just hard. They fought in the wars and lost a great deal of lives _and_ friends; not to mention family. Quatre said his father had died for him—along with one of his sisters. He said that Zechs lost a lot of his friends and life long members of his memory—which was probably why he too was shaky on the topic matter, making us read it on our own without talking about it in class.

"But any who… Quatre's best friends were killed during and sometime after the war. He said his friend Heero," Uno paused and raised her hand towards Theresa, "the guy they named the machine in class because of how perfect he was all the time, he said he was named after some Pacifist way back in the day—before _they_ were born, named Heero Yuy, which Quatre also said his dad talked to some enemy fighter years before _that_ and _that_ guy talked to Heero Yuy, the leader, who tried to stop all wars and got killed and raised the fighters we came from… damn, a lot," Uno smirked and Theresa chuckled as well.

"Well, any who… he said Heero wound up dying by the end of the first year of freedom after the Mareimaia War ended because of late reaction to battle fatigue and all other illnesses of the body. He said Heero always wanted to die and finally got what he asked for, along with hurting a lot of his friends—who were considered his only family."

Uno took in a breath before releasing it in a weak and shaky manner. "Then he said there was Duo."

"Wow… if only they were all still alive… I bet they would have been cool people to know." Theresa smiled weakly after hearing about all the losses that have hurt Quatre and Zechs.

"Duo, or as Quatre loves to refer to, the braided baka, he missed just about the most out of all. He was the most cheerful person he said he'd ever known who always hid his true feelings with a smile, no matter the problems. Said he's found Duo sitting alone at times, crying, but left him be so Duo would feel like he was still in secret and hiding his emotions. Oh yeah, Heero used to act on his emotions; the two of them—Heero and Duo—rarely got along but Quatre said it was because they were entirely opposites of each other...and that Ricky resembles Heero _so_ much he's wondering if they're from the same blood line.

"Anywho, Duo tried to live on and Quatre said he was getting married to Hildie—some girl that had left about two years after the war ended—and he said Duo was the happiest he's ever seen him. But, when Quatre got home, he went to his office to do some more work for the Winner Foundation, and the hospital called saying Duo was in a car wreck—killed on the spot. Quatre was very shaky when he told me what had happened, but apparently Duo's car was literally _crushed _from front to back, rear ended and squashed into an eighteen wheeler. Quatre said that when he rushed to the hospital, despite that Duo was _already _dead, Duo's body was literally crushed into a compact position and he told me that they said they had to literally cut open his Corvette in order to pry him out of there. The truck driver is who called the police and such and he's the one who sued the SUV driver who pushed Duo into the truck. But directly after the funeral, Quatre said that Hildie just packed up and fled; said it was too hard on her to stay around where she would always remember him."

Theresa's face was dead of emotion and filled with shock. Her eyes were enlarged and her mouth was hanging open. Uno kept her head down, her voice low of any tone.

"Quatre said that I remind him of Duo a lot of the times. I guess that's a good thing; but he said because I'm always cheery and bright, always hiding my feelings behind a smile and ignoring warnings." Uno giggled a bit.

"And to think I'm about to buy Ricky's Vet." Theresa looked away in thought. Uno blinked up at her.

"Ricky just bought that car not even four weeks ago… the paper work just finished getting settled."

Theresa nodded, "Yeah, and now he's buying some black Firebird and selling me the Vet. I immediately took the offer." Theresa was grinning at Uno.

Uno shook her head. "Anywho… I faintly remember Trowa. He died when I was eleven." Both girl lowered their heads.

"Yeah… that was sad how he died," Theresa kept her voice low. "And to think, I was in the front row when the cable broke."

"At least you had to go… Quatre wasn't able to take me to that show because he had a meeting to go to."

"Good thing you didn't go, though." Theresa looked up at Uno. "It was a horrible scene." Uno kept her head bowed.

"Ricky was speechless as well." Uno sighed. "I can't get the face out of my mind, of what Quatre looked like when he heard Trowa was killed in the act. The authorities questioned everyone but it still sounded like it was a setup despite how everyone had nothing positive to say about what happened." She looked up at Theresa and saw her best friend's concerning face.

"Tell me about Wufei… Quatre was iffy when we mentioned him.

Uno smirked and chuckled. "Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. He said Duo and Wufei fought constantly because Wufei was a smart and honorable person while Duo just didn't care and lived the day as it came. Wufei lived by honor and pride; he believed that if you were too weak to fight than you shouldn't fight at all. Even though there were people he had to defend, he didn't feel like fighting his opponent when they weren't a worthy match."

"So how did he die?" Theresa asked while cocking her head to the side and picking up a pillow from the ground to hug.

Uno looked off to the side in thought. "Actually, Quatre didn't mind talking about that one. He said Wufei and Sally were a couple after the wars ended—didn't admit it but he said you could tell—and they were awarded a huge vacation from Une, the Preventers Leader. There was a storm that was hitting when they were flying across the Earth towards the Caribbean Islands and the plane was caught in the middle. Electrical fields; they got hit hard and landed in the ocean."

"And he doesn't mind talking about that one?" Theresa chuckled. "A bit weird, if you'd ask me."

Uno shrugged. "Well, it happens all the time. Earth weather is weird, unlike the colonies. It's unpredictable down here."

"How is the colony?" Theresa's eyes lit up with interest.

"Boring." Uno replied casually with a shrug.

Theresa busted out laughing hard. "That sounds like a typical response from you!"

"Heh," Uno looked off in thought. "Quatre asked me last night if I remembered my parents."

"Do you?" Theresa changed position and laid her stomach on the ottoman, flattening her already flattened tummy even more.

Uno rolled onto her stomach and kicked her feet up in the air backwards as she looked back down at Theresa. "Not really. I remember she had reddish brown hair—I think—and my dad was like… black haired. They fought a lot and I don't really remember seeing him around that much… but when he wasn't abusing her, she would give me toys to play with and leave me alone."

"Damn… that was rude."

"Yeah, the orphanage taught me how to speak and everything." Uno shrugged. "I think I didn't really _have _a dad… I think he just knocked her up and left."

"Or some other guy… I mean, look at you," Theresa smirked. "Do you think you look like your mom or that guy you remember?"

Uno shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyways; they're all dead. Hell, for all I know, Duo knocked up my mom considering Quatre stated Duo lived each moment of life to it's fullest."

"That would be freaky," Theresa dropped her head to the floor and her hair hung before her face.

"What?" Uno blinked.

"If you were the daughter of a Gundam Pilot. It'll explain why you kick so hard of ass in school and everything. I mean, you weren't taught as much as I was because when we met you didn't know nearly as much as I did… but the next thing I know you're understanding Binary and decoding hacking tools and I'm still learning Spanish as a second language." Both girls laughed out loud for a few extra minutes.

"So… what happened to Ricky's mother?" Theresa changed the topic as a question boggled her mind. She blinked up at her friend with adorable cute eyes.

"She died giving birth to him." Uno said with as much caring as a frog sitting on a log.

Theresa frowned. "How sad…"

"Not really," Uno corrected. Theresa blinked and cocked her head to the side. "Daniel warned her—as did the rest of the colony—that laboring a child on the colony would kill her and she did so anyways. Ricky said that Johnson told him, that she _didn't_ take the pill and, as he so bluntly puts it, 'fucked him anyways." Uno giggled and Theresa looked down in thought.

"He was born on a colony? How come I didn't know?"

Uno shrugged. "Colony 1; I've been there… there's nothing much to it."

Theresa looked up at Uno. "You've been to Colony L1!"

Uno nodded. "And two, and three, and four." She looked off to the side with disgust. "Frankly, I think Earth is just enough for me. I don't see the whole logic in moving out to space where you don't even get to see the sky." She returned to Theresa and found her friend's face was gaping at her in shock. Uno blinked. "What? Quatre took me to each one when I was younger."

"Wow…" There's voice calmed. "But, when did you find out about Ricky?"

"Well… let me think." Uno looked off to the side before facing Theresa once again. "About a year ago… maybe two. It was his sixteenth birthday when I realized he never talked about his mom and I asked him for information."

"He didn't mind talking about it with you?"

"No, he never knew her so why should he?" Uno grinned. "Daniel's cool though; he said that he got hired by Synodd, some medical branch of the new sector Relena's allowing to start. They're going to invent new cures and medicines so people _can_ give birth on a colony—considering they're still suffering from that problem—and they're working alone on trying to create androids and other non-human things. Except they're keeping _that_ from Relena."

"And you're not going to tell her?" Uno shook her head. "But I thought she was like, your other best friend—like your sister almost."

Uno shrugged. "Well, yeah, she is. But, when I know people are so into what they want to do, I won't stand in their way." Theresa blinked and Uno smirked. "What, think they're going to try and take over the world with some stupid, machine or creature that can walk on two legs and talk like us? Please." Uno rolled her eyes and Theresa only hung her head again.

"Well…" Theresa stated after a few minutes of total silence. Uno looked up and over at her. "Who's doing what?"

"Huh?" Uno blinked, totally confused.

"I mean," Theresa gazed off in thought. "Daniel isn't super duper smart and we both know Ricky isn't either."

"Oh!" Uno smiled. "They're hiring two elite scientists do work on it all. I think Professor Gregory and Doctor Jarvis; I'm not so sure but that's who Ricky said was going to be in charged on the new staff rolling… I think he said they were two of the few who built the Gundams in the far past… them and some other really old guys."

Theresa giggled as did Uno. "Can they still think? I mean, that's a very long time ago… how are they still alive?"

Uno shrugged. "Beats me. I really don't give a damn. War's are horrible; people die in them."

"Yeah," Theresa looked down. "But those photo's we saw of the fighters were really hot." Both girls grinned.

"Oh well… are you going to Ricky's party tonight?" Uno slid off the side of the bed and stretched. Theresa's head snapped up in her direction.

"Huh?"

"His party… remember? Because we're graduating next week, he's getting his party out of the way so he can go to the other parties that'll be started up." Uno headed towards the closet and walked inside the massive mall-looking area.

"Well… yeah. It's here isn't it?"

"Duh," came the dull response of a girl undressing in the closet.

"Sure," Theresa stood and stretched. "You sure Quatre doesn't mine us using the Music Wing for a club tonight?"

Uno stepped out of the closet in her bra and very low cut jeans. She tossed a shirt onto the back of the chair as she headed into the bathroom.

"He doesn't care; that's what it was used for, remember?"

"Man Uno… I envy you. You've got the most perfect body I've ever seen." Theresa followed Uno into the bathroom to chit-chat some more.

"Remember those papers we found stashed in the Military Wing a few months back?" Uno picked up her hair brush and began brushing out a few of the tangles as she plugged in the curler.

Theresa nodded. "Yeah, the really fucked up versions of humanoids. What about them?"

"I gave them to Ricky's father and he thought the papers only had a few things wrong with them."

"Cool… so they're working on those ideas?" Theresa folded her arms across her chest and leant on the doorframe.

"They're gonna try. Who knows," Uno wrapped her hair around a curler and turned to Theresa, "perhaps they'll find the cure for AIDs… they've already got something close to the cure for the common cold."

"They need a cure for perversion. I swear… Ricky and Ray have to be like, brothers or something." Theresa looked off in thought. "They're always so fucking horny!"

"Theresa… they're men." Both girls giggled some before parting their ways to prepare for the night.

Sweat clogged his lungs and the air around his body froze in thickness. Duo's eyes snapped opened immediately and he sprang forward in a fearsome manner. The sheets were wrinkled underneath his body in some form of clumsiness, his tossing and turning on top of his bed a sign that his dream was not a pleasing sight.

His hair was plastered to the sides of his face while his saliva dribbled down the corners of his mouth. Perhaps a vision? What was to come? What would have happened? The dream he had just had was too perfect—too real—to be anything but an illusion of play. He dazed around his room but nothing was misplaced; the red hue of the tiny lamp besides him still glittered its fiery beams off the walls and objects in his room and the fan still spun wildly above him, though it felt as if none of the air was hitting him.

He needed some water; he needed some water, some meds, something to get his mind off what he just witnessed. Trickles of perspiration fell from his temples and formed little puddles at the base of his neck, spooling into his clothing and soaking the fabric; his shirt now plastered to his body as a second skin.

Duo forced himself off the bed with hardly any force. His legs were a bit shaky let alone his feet were weak as they were. He had to get out of the room—perhaps out of the mansion?—before the replay of his dream returned to him. He felt paler than a ghost on its fright fest of nights and as soon as he opened his door to spill out into the hallway, found the familiar sense of regret washing over him; he was standing just across from his daughters door, the same girl that he had seen grown up in his dream as a rich woman, a beaut in his eyes and a lustful creature in other men's.

Duo shut his door softly as he turned his head away, trying to ignore the fact that his little girl hadn't single clue about him in his dream. The stairs felt as if they took him into the outer levels of Hell itself. Grabbing hold of the banister, he pulled himself down the steps of his remorseful memory and into the realm of reality.

Uno was graduating high school. She was a grown woman. She wasn't as innocent as she seemed to be now. She was steady with Ricky and Theresa was steady with _hers_. The two of them were still together—good—but it also felt as if they _weren't_ together anymore. Uno was different; her hair was shortened and highlighted. She was different; she wasn't Shinimegami; she wasn't like _him_!

When he entered the living room he saw the kitchen light was on. As he neared the room the glow of the light blinded him and blurred his vision into outlines and figurines. Who was awake? Was he still dreaming and he's sleep walking? Is he living in his dream and about to open his eyes to see his little girl fully grown, pregnant, and having a loving family? Is he about to open his eyes to see Professor G and Doctor J working with their current enemy? When he did open his eyes against the blinding of the light he saw Heero was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal, Trowa sitting besides him with a glass of milk, Quatre standing before the sink, his arms folded across his chest with a cup of coffee in his hand, and Wufei leaning against the wall with another cup of coffee in his. All of them had looked as if they had just woken up as well—only Heero looked fresher, probably the first to wake; they all were still wearing their pajamas.

"So you saw it too?" Came the sullen monotonic voice of the perfect creature sitting at the table eating a bowl of Cheerios. Duo looked over at him, his mouth still parted from when he woke up. The sweat of his body made a glowing sparkle hit the room when the lights shone down on him. Duo slowly nodded, confused as well as everyone else.

"I'm just amazed at what it showed." Trowa's voice was low as it had used to be in the past when they were all comrades in the war. Duo blinked over at him, his mouth still parted. Quatre held his head down and Wufei only looked at Duo with a questionable look in his eyes.

"Are you ill, Duo?" Wufei had asked, noticing Duo's bleak expression and his paled complexion.

Duo finally closed his mouth and swallowed hard against the dryness of his body. He winced when the pains of soreness washed away down his throat and blinked a little of the sleep out of his eyes. A squeak came out of his lips when he tried to speak and quickly he closed his mouth to try again.

"What… what was that supposed to mean?" Duo's voice was shaky and frightened. It rose in volume in some parts while in others it was lower. "How am I supposed to look at her again? After I saw what could have been should we all had died for everyone when Mareimaia fought us?"

Heero kept his head bowed and didn't know what to say or do as well as the rest of the group. Could that had been a vision to warn them all of what was really going to happen? To hint to them that just the opposite is going to become of them? That everything they saw was supposed to show them that they should have died? Quatre didn't say a thing or make a move; he never died in the visions and he wound up taking Uno in anyways.

But the only questioned that remained was: what would happen now when they all looked back at everyone else? Live on like it was just a dream though they all saw the same thing? Continue training Uno for a war that may never happen? Or prepare for something alarming that could take their lives away in only a matter of seconds?


	27. Sudden Exposure

**(From old archive)  
**_**Note to my readers:** I adore all of you who have stuck by with this fic being as long as it is. I am more than grateful to those who have shared your insights and questions, your thoughts and opinions, and especially your love for the story and characters. I have fallin' in love with Uno as much as the whole lot of you had and I understand how it is nearly impossible for a child her age to be as mature and great as she is. I just now got reminded about how children of that little age act as my work requires being around children from ages of infantry to 13. Her life was practically squashed into a small story and tried to the best of my knowledge to become one of the greatest characters I have ever made; what helped is your love of Uno and commentary. What helped more is how you asked to use her in your own stories. I don't mind letting you use her in whatever way, just so long as you hand over the original credits to me, Angel0fRebirth. I have plans to take this story all the way to a sequel, yes, and bind them on my own. If you feel to have a hard copy in book format, stay tuned as I am working on a way to sell them across Internet through Pay Pall_ without_ having to fear fines of copyright. I if I buy the names to sell my book for reality purposes, I fear they may steal it; heck, I wouldn't mind watching this turn into another Gundam series or even a movie, but I'd like to keep my credibility. Once again, thank you all for keeping this story alive and for the help you all have shown me over these past several years; to think a story could go so far and still stay so popular. I only hope that you will enjoy the sequel as much as the original and yes, I will give a hint towards the sequel when this story, _Duo's Child_, ends. This story has kept my motivation for writing running wild and without it and without all of you, I would not have been able to get as far into my writing career as I am now; you all taught me so much and kept me working on it for so long, I simply couldn't find it in me to back out. This story is on the verge of closure and I feel emotionally torn and drain because of it all; I'd prefer it continue on forever and I know it can't._

**(To new archive)  
**_**Note to my readers:** Yes, as you all have seen for yourself, the previous chapter was a bit shocking and entirely frightening. It showed (from an idea I harbored for years beyond this story), what would have happened if neither of them had survived the wars. Quatre would have still taken Uno in as his own, she would have met everyone in school, and as the rest of the chapter goes, she wouldn't have been the way she is now. It was Duo who developed her mind set to think like his because he was the first to give her love. Also, I tried to give some insight to what her parents were like; her mother, to those who still wonder about it to this day, was a female version of Heero and because of that she didn't know love and affection (her mother never had a chance to have it) so that's how she's such the acer and perfectionist she is and Duo is her father, showing that is why she's able to hide her emotions behind a smile and always look at the bright side to things._

* * *

Duo's Child

Chapter 27

**Sudden Exposure**

Uno dropped the earmuffs and sighed heavily before turning to Theresa with a growl. For the past several hours, she and her friend have been working so hard to get another song made for the Talent Night in one week; Uno was ready to go but Theresa kept forgetting her words.

"Theresa," Uno began, her eyes squinting shut. "If you can't sing the lyrics, then back down."

"But…I'm getting nervous. I'm stage fright." Theresa pouted. She was always nervous when it came to big gatherings of people.

"And you think I'm not?" Uno stared at her, anger rising up to the tops of her head. "I've done this before and I still get nervous. Heck, Mr. Merky makes me talk my oral presentations in front of the whole class while you all get to sit back in your seats and say yours!"

"Hey…you two," Uno and Theresa looked back through the window at Ricky. "Shut up!"

The two of them went blank in the face and Ricky only grinned. Theresa sighed and looked down. Uno grumbled and stretched. She hadn't volunteered for the Talent Show in over four to five years, at least since she was six. Uno leant against the wall and shut her eye lids.

"Theresa, are you having a part for your birthday?" Uno folded her arms across her chest and lowered her head.

"No…I'm taking your route; no more parties!" Theresa smiled big. "Just you and Ricky and that's all."

"What? No gifts?" Ricky teased from the other side of the studio and Theresa glared him. He cracked up laughing.

"Besides, I thought it was cool when you turned seven and Brittany and them asked if you were going to have another party again just like before. Man, was _she_ brownnosing!"

"Theresa…" Ricky blinked at her and she turned to face him with question in her eyes. "Do you even _know_ what brownnosing means?" She stayed quiet and he just shook his head down and sighed.

"Do as you wish. Quatre knew I always hated a lot of people gathered around for me for things like that. 'Oo..look, I turned nine!' 'Oh wow! I'm now eleven!" Uno rolled her eyes. "Like I even enjoy being twelve? Duo is trying to teach me how to drive and Heero's yelling at him about it because I'm too young."

"Get a bike." Ricky offered through the microphone. "Johnson's giving me a great deal with one. Dad's thinking of getting me my hardship license to drive around because he's always at work and Johnson's always out with his girlfriends; besides, I've gotten in deeper with my dad's work and so I'm nearly required a vehicle now."

"What's a hardship license?" Theresa asked, looking from Ricky to Uno and back to Ricky again.

"It let's fifteen-year-olds get a driver license and drive whenever they can because they're the main working person in the family; but since I require it for the job, I may get it anyways." Ricky looked down at the switches.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you're fifteen." Theresa looked down in though then back up to him. "Why do I keep thinking your more like, ten?"

Ricky blinked. "Because he looks like it a lot of the times." Uno smirked and lifted her head to catch a glimpse of Ricky's playing-hurt expression. She looked at Theresa.

"I sometimes forget you're thirteen. I sometimes think I'm thirteen and you're the twelve-year-old around here."

"That's only 'cuz I _keep_ my sense of humor!" Theresa stuck her tongue out at Uno.

Ricky blinked. "Is that why you think I'm ten most of the time?"

"No," Uno looked back at him and grinned. "You still look like a younger version of Heero, only now you hold a semi-striking resemblance to him."

Theresa looked at Ricky and tilted her head a bit. "You know…now that I think about it—so many years later—he _does_ look a lot like Heero."

"Hey! I know I come from my father! There is _no_ way I'm _his_ son!" Ricky pointed through the glass window to the two of them and shouted.

"Unless your mother cheated on your father with him…but even then that would be nearly impossible…wouldn't it?" Uno looked off thinking and the other two in the studio shrugged.

-

That night, Heero walked Relena up to the steps of her mansion door and looked down at their locked hands and to the massive diamond ring on her finger. He was nearly spent; he took the entire night finding the courage to propose to her and finally managed to do it out_side_ of the high dollar restaurant he spent a fortune on; he tried to get the night _perfect_ but failed miserably and finally proposed to her while they took a stroll through the park. However, when another couple witness the scene and came over to congratulate them, he felt a bit better about it being in a secluded area rather then in a room crowded with a sea of faces.

"I had a really wonderful night, Heero." Relena stated, softly. She paused and turned to look at him with kindness in her eyes. He lifted his head and managed a small smile; he was nervous again.

"Will you be coming inside?" She asked. He's come inside a few other times after their date but this time—despite how he would really admire doing so—he couldn't. He lowered his head.

"I shouldn't; it's late Relena and you have a meeting tomorrow with the press and council committee of L13." Heero looked at her with want in his eyes but he couldn't release the urgency and need of it as he desired too. He heard Relena sigh a heavy breath and leant over to kiss her good night.

She was well a good inch or two below his height and as he slanted his head over hers, she willingly lifted her chin to claim his lips. They eyes shut and for a moment, their surroundings were forgotten in a sea of bliss. His kiss was gentle and light, as all his other kisses have been, and he lifted a hand to cup her cheek. His lips were soft and he parted them to invade his tongue into her mouth, to have them both dance around as flames enticed their bodies. Relena lifted her arms and held him closer, pressing on his back to keep him besides her forever.

The kiss was a romantic image that will plaster itself into her mind for the rest of eternity and beyond, even after they marry and die together of old age. He smelt of cologne and she smelt of perfume; he tasted of berries and she tasted of cherries. Together, the two of them held one another and kissed their fears of all future paths away until there was nothing but the single path of a cherished family and a peaceful life.

All too soon, Heero released her lips from his claim and pulled an inch away from her face to stare deeply into her loving eyes. Years she has loved him and it seems only months he has returned it. Through out the wars in the past she has been there for him over and over again, chiding him about what to do and what not to do, despite his efforts to block her out, and out of all of the times he pushed her away she stood right back up and tried again. She was determined and persistent and that's what made her such a good leader.

Heero, on the other hand, had tried several times to do without her and each time had failed him terribly. Without her constant calling and nagging about when they would get together he thought it would be a soothing and peaceful moment but each time the occurrence hit, it struck him hard in the chest. He loved her all these years and never knew; she tried to get him to see it but he shoved her aside and paid no attention to the feelings.

Boy she sure showed him.

"Relena," Heero began but couldn't find the breath to finish.

"Heero." Relena dazed up into his eyes and brushed the small brown strands of hair away from his face. A smile crept up on her face. "Heero, do you love me?"

"Yes." Came his quiet and almost silent reply. "I do."

"Say it, Heero. Please." Relena begged and for the time being, Heero could only smile at her innocent-looking eyes, her big, blue, glassy orbs shining with hope and desire just as he was feeling right then.

"I love you, Relena."

Relena smiled. "Heero."

He lowered his head to her neck and wrapped his arms tightly around her body. She returned the hug and he felt protectively aggressive about anything that may happen. He didn't want anything to happen; she was _his_ woman and _his_ desires filled the air just then. He shut his eyes and took in a heavy breath. He knew she wanted him to come inside again; it wouldn't have been the first time for neither of them.

"Relena, I can't." Heero backed away and looked down at her saddened expression. Relena pouted softly and her voice lowered to nothing above a whisper.

"Why?"

"I can't. We shouldn't continue on like that." Heero looked into her eyes and she could see that he wanted to…lusted for it…but the fact that it was wrong told him not to and held him back. She looked at him, nearly pleading him with her eyes, but still he kept his lips firm and slowly shook his head all while watching her express go to hurt.

"It's not right." She looked down and felt like she was about to cry, but he lifted her chin with his finger and dazed into her eyes. "Sleep well, Princess. I will see you tomorrow night."

Relena had to force herself to smile and when she did, felt tears sting her eyes. Heero shut his eyes and pulled her in for another hug. He was hurting her, doing this to her, but he had too. They had to stop before they got in too far deep and could not get out; before something were to spring up and surprise them and he couldn't bear to have her status of authority go down hill. They managed to correct the few times precautions were forgotten and carelessness took over, but accidents can still happen and he didn't want to take any chances of wrecking her appearance. They tried all the other ways but nothing worked and only turned him away; they had to stop before they got in trouble.

Heero backed away a good two feet and watched her. Relena stood there another moment before turning around and opening the door. Slowly, as if each foot weighed a ton, she carried herself inside the mansion and turned to face him one last time that night. There eyes met one on one and she stifled a small smile to put her pains behind her; he stayed still with his seriously stern face and watched as she closed the door between them, shutting the gap for that night like so many nights ago, several years ago. Relena pressed her forehead against the door and dragged her hand to the lock; with hurt in her chest she turned the key and locked the door.

_Why?_ Relena shut her eyes and felt the sting of water blur her vision. _Why can't we? Why does it have to matter?_ It took a while for Heero to start falling for her and notice and it when he had, she had loved every moment of it and bathed in the glory of it all; but why did it have to end just then? Why did her status of being the Vice Foreign Minister matter so much that they had to slow their relationship down to a cautious watch.

_Why does it matter; it's only work! You wanted me; I wanted you! It was right!_ Relena's eyes drew heavy of water and they weren't capable of holding much more. They began to fall heavily and drench her face, her makeup running off.

-

When the door firmly shut and _clicked_ to lock, Heero turned around on his heels and drew in a heavy breath. The night was cool and he hadn't noticed it until he was alone without his fiancé. Around her, fires would sooth out to a protective warmth but ice would melt at a rapid pace.

He lifted his head and gazed out into the stars above, feeling dread for what he just did. He's loved her for about six years now and nearly three of those he proved it to her. But why did it take this long to stop? Why was he so weak to pull away and protect her even from her own status? Because he loved her and he couldn't bear to witness the media progressing towards her should she become a woman without a husband but with a child. He loved her too much to have her throw her work away just for him. She spent _years_striving for the title she received, _especially_ the returning title of 'princess;' _that_ took most of the time.

Heero headed back towards his jeep and sat inside. After he shut the door, he looked back up to the mansion and at her window. He knew she was watching him through the blinds, staring into the tiny little gaps without touching the full thing. He's done it before and even watched her do it once.

His hand lifted and he blindly turned the key to the engine. The car _purred_ to life and he shut his eyes while taking a heavy deep sigh. It was killing him to stay there as long as he was, wanting and desiring to go back to her front door and apologize for backing away. He wanted so much as to do that, but he couldn't; not again. They almost got in trouble a few times in the past and she had to go to a secret doctor for help; he didn't want to have her actually get a real abortion.

His heart pounding, Heero rested his hands on the top of the steering wheel and guided the car around the front courtyard until he hit the very road that would take him away from her fairy-tale world and back into the real world of safety and precaution.

-

The following day was already feeling like a drag to Uno as she and Theresa walked down the street towards the school. Theresa was humming some made-up tune and Uno was hanging her bag from behind her head. She yawned widely and dazed around their surroundings before shutting her eyes once again and tilting her head backwards.

"Why do you _again_ have Mr. Merquise as your teacher?" Theresa paused her song, remembering something that's been agitating her for years.

Uno looked straight ahead at them and blinked a few times before shrugging and tilting her head back again.

"I dunno'; I guess cuz he liked he out of most of the other students he ever had. Either that, he knows I'll always get in trouble if I bad mouth other people when _he's_ not around."

"You're lucky. He wants _you_ to stay in class." Theresa grumbled. "With me, he could care less. He only has me in the classes because I'm your only friend besides Ricky."

Uno smirked from her positioned head. "I guess that's it then. He's using you to keep me motivated." Uno shrugged. "Even though I _still_ don't care whether or not I have to do things in class. With you there, I only get bored because you actually _do_ your work."

Theresa giggled. "That's so mean, Uno!" Theresa laughed out loud. "No wonder you don't make friends!"

"Oh shut up!" Uno glared her and both girls soon cracked up laughing. "People are just jealous of me and hate me because I can kick their ass in just about anything!"

"Hehehe…like what?" Theresa asked, giggling because Uno cussed out loud and didn't give a care in the world about getting caught.

"Well…" Uno began. "I can run the fastest on the team; I'm best at softball. I even kick Ricky's butt in basketball and that's an easy game for him. I ace all my grades and Mr. Merky tests me about three times harder than the rest."

Theresa grinned. "That's only because Wufei quizzes you after he practically _forces_ you to study and then if you get one question wrong—just one—Heero makes you do fifty pushups."

Uno grumbled. "Or fifty laps, or fifty pull-ups…I hope he never has kids because if he does, I'll feel sorry for them." Uno imagined his children having the same pain soaring and aching body parts she was feeling just then, remembering the night before when Heero and Wufei quizzed her at least a dozen times over. And at least a dozen times over, Heero made her do one hundred pull-ups, pushups, sit-ups—the works—because she kept getting wrong answers.

"How many trophies and plaques have you gotten that Ricky doesn't have? You two are the best in the entire school; I'd wonder if his dad does the same Heero and the rest of your big family does." Theresa asked, a thought popping up in her head.

"Hm…" Uno looked ahead of herself and thought about that. She shrugged. "Well…all I can think of is five more trophies and twelve more plaques."

"Doesn't he have about thirty-two all together?" Theresa asked. "I think that's what he said, at least." Theresa shrugged. "Oh well."

-

In the bushes, a distance from the Winner mansion and a distance from the school, noises could be heard. A black sport bike lay hidden in a near-by bush only a couple feet away. A black bag consisting of several boxes of bullets, folders of data and names, and a collection of weapons sat besides the body of a black dressed person, hidden in the shadows of the huge oak tree just behind him.

He looked through the bushes, the leaves just barely covering him, and watched as the two young girls carelessly walked down the sidewalk towards the Winner School. A hefty sigh was released from shaky lips and the black rifle, tightly grasped in his hand, was unusually heavy to hold. His hands were sweaty, his palms slippery. He knew he had to make this work; he worked so hard up to this point, but the image of the young girl's body sprawled out and lying on the sidewalk made him shiver with fright rather than the spur of enjoyment for having to really use his gun.

They were getting closer; the two young girls, one with her brown hair so lavishly tied back into a long braid and the other with her annoying tunes of hums. They were headed towards the school, which started in about half an hour, and unaware of the dangers that lurked around them.

Another breath was taken and it didn't help cease the shakiness behind the man's trembling body. He _had_ to go through with this; he was getting paid after all. But a child; it was hard to bear.

Shutting his eyes and looking down to the side, he fumed. A child didn't deserve to die in place of the _real_ people accused; they should at _least_ send the child to a foster house or some other form of family.

He opened his eyes and looked back through the bushes. They were getting closer and he was running out of time. It wasn't like the simulations where he knew how to pause the game so he could have the time he needed to gain and regain his composure; this was a real _life_ he had to take!

He breathed deeply and propped himself up on his knees. He lifted the gun and pushed the barrel through the bushes just a little so the bullet wouldn't hit a thing but the girl.

_Why the girl?!_ He fumed. _Children have no _right_ dying like this!_ He kept a steady position on the poor child and tilted his head just enough to catch a glimpse of her through the scope. She was chanting with her friend, skipping and hopping. It wouldn't be hard considering there was no one around for miles and the two girls hadn't a single clue as to his awareness, but the fact that it was a child altered his position on her body.

He released a heavy sigh. He wasn't able to go through with it, but he forced himself to comply with his missions and not fall back; there would be hell to pay if he returned to the base without the successful attack.

-

Theresa and Uno stopped prancing and slowed back down to their normal walk. As usual, the two of them raced a bit and as usual, Uno had won. They looked at it more as a game of fun rather than a test of the best; it was Ricky and Uno that shared the test for the best.

"Uno…sometimes I wonder if you're even human." Theresa groggily stated, finally catching her breath again.

"You're just a poor runner and playmate." Uno teased. She shrugged. "Duo wonders that about me as much as he does about Heero."

"Heero?" Theresa asked. "You I understand; why him?"

Uno shrugged. "I dunno'. Guess he's just like me."

"Wow…how frightening…maybe somehow a genetic splice had happened between the two of them—Duo and Heero—and you're their daughter." Theresa dazed out into the open before them. Uno stopped and blinked then turned and gave Theresa a terrified look.

"Where did you ever come up with _that_ thought, Theresa?"

Theresa shrugged. "It was on some movie that dad was watching last night. Some old horror that he said was all fake and you could tell."

"Heh…I think that's disgusting…disgusting enough to tell them about it." Uno grinned.

"Heh." Theresa walked on then looked down when she saw Uno's feet. "Uno…you're boot's untied."

"Huh?" Uno looked down and blinked. "Crap monkeys…when did that happen?" Uno dropped her bag besides herself and knelt down. Theresa stopped and watched.

"Maybe when we raced?" She shrugged then looked back down the sidewalk and hummed again.

"I guess." Uno replied, retying her boot laces.

-

The man watched the two talk and joke then stop as one had to kneel down and tie her shoes. He should get her now, as the moment is just right and neither of them were aware of the situation, but he was struggling to keep a hold of the rifle on the girl.

He aimed at her and set his finger on the trigger. It felt harder to press and his fingers were extremely shaky; it was beginning to cause the rifle to slide away from his target.

He sighed again and shook his head. He minus-well just aim to the basic spot where she would be when she stands back up from tying her shoes, but even _that _was a struggle of wits. Even though his body shook and wracked him viciously, he remained positioned at where her head would be when she stands back up.

The two of them were talking again, chanting on about something, and he was ready and waiting for the moment to pull the trigger and start this new war.

But he was shaking so damn badly!

-

Theresa hummed again and looked around the wide open spaces besides them. The sidewalk rested along a street that was hardly ever used unless going towards Uno's house and the fields surrounding it have yet to be worked up. Theresa wondered about something and blinked down at Uno.

"Uno?"

"Nani?" She asked from below.

"Does Quatre own half the city?"

"Huh?" Uno looked up, her laces once again untying from their knot.

Theresa motioned to the wide open fields around them. "Does he own all this land?"

"Yeah, I think so." Uno looked back down at her shoe laces and grumbled.

"So if he was to die…or like in the long run from now…you would get the city and all of the land, school, mansion…and all else he owns?" Theresa asked down at her friend and Uno paused to think.

"Actually…I don't really know." Uno looked up at Theresa and grinned. "Probably so, since Quatre doesn't have a girl in his life."

"That is _so_ cool!" Theresa grinned. "I'm glad I'm your best friend!"

Uno murmured. "You're my _only_ friend…besides Ricky."

Uno just finished tying her shoes in a double knot to be certain it wouldn't untie again and heard what sounded like a rock hitting the road. She looked down her right side to the street and saw nothing. She gazed up into the sky, ignoring the bright sun, and blinked.

There was nothing around.

Her eye brows quirked in and she shrugged.

"Hey Theresa, did you hear that? It sounded like a rock hit the road but there's nothing around." Uno looked ahead of them to a few bushes in the distance and still, she heard nothing…not even Theresa's reply.

"Hm?" Uno looked back at Theresa and froze with fear. "Theresa?"

Theresa was laying on the ground, backpack thrown back, body sprawled out like a doll forgotten on a child's bedroom floor, arms and legs spread out as if she were stretching. Uno never heard her say anything after the best friend statement, never heard her groan or stretch, or even yawn…if she was even tired. But crouching where she was so close to her friends body laying entirely on the grass, was beginning to frighten her. Theresa lied there, silently, without a movement, and Uno knew just then, without having to see the blood flowing out from under the body on the grass towards the concrete, that her best friend was dead.

"Theresa?!" Uno crawled over to her friend's side, wanting to scream out her best friend's name over and over again a thousand times, crying for her to return, but paused in fear when she saw the gaping wound between the eyes. "A bullet hole?"

Fear struck Uno right then with an icy stab and she realized the bullet formation: silent, small, powerful; it was an assassin rifle. The tears that threatened to form in her eyes fell heavily and Uno slowly stood up, knowing for certain, that it was meant to hit her.

-

"Fuck!" He growled at himself and yanked the rifle back into his arms. He leant over in his crouch and held onto the rifle as a means to stay in a sitting position. "I fucking missed!"

His eyes shut tightly and he was beginning to shake violently. He had killed the girl's best friend and that wasn't what he was supposed to do, either. He had taken the wrong life, by accident.

_I was ready…I was ready and I was waiting for her to stand back up. But…damn it!_ He growled to himself. Words from their chanting returned to his ear and he trembled even more.

_'You're my _only_ friend…besides Ricky.'_

Damn the girl! Why did she have to say that? Why did she have to state that she had no friends but the two she's _always_ around? Why did she have to say that her best friends were the other girl and her boyfriend? Why?!

He released a heavy, agitated sigh and shut his eyes. He had to witness the fear creeping along her face when she turned around and noticed her friend was dead.

_Her best friend._

When she found that there was no bringing her best friend to life. When she realized that he had missed his target and accidentally struck her friend. He was doing just fine, managing to withhold his shaky urges and ready to pull the trigger, but when she stated who her few friends were, his body freaked out and he slipped; his finger had pressed too tightly and caused him to pulled the trigger, mistakenly tip the rifle to the side and shoot her friend.

He would have been fine had she not said that just then.

"Fuck…well…here we go again."

He brought himself to come to conclusions and told himself, silently, that if he missed again or did not kill her this moment, he'd be in a lot of trouble. Bringing himself up onto his knees, he lifted the rifle up once more, pushed it back through the leaves, and gazed back into the scope only to see that she had already run off.

-

Uno was running as fast as she possibly could push herself to go. She was running faster than she had ever run against Heero in training, she was running faster than she had ever run away from Duo when he wanted to ground her; she was running so fast her chest ached as if she were about to die just then. The last time she ever remembered running this fast, Heero clocked her at twenty –miles-per-hour; she was definitely running faster this time.

Her mouth stayed open as she struggled to breath and she was coming closer to the front gates of the mansion. She couldn't believe what she had seen. She couldn't believe the fear and the pains.

_What about the pain Theresa must have felt?_

Uno choked back a sob and tears began to blur. She blinked several times until the water fell from her eyes and she could see again. She then noticed she was slowed down to nearly a jogging speed and paced herself back up again to her race-for-dear-life speed.

She rounded the corner of the big brick fence and paused at the gate. It was well over twelve feet tall and locked; the only way in, unless she could jump a super-high distance, was crawling underneath it. Even if she had a key to get in, or if somebody from inside was fast enough, the gate would still open very slowly and she would still be in trouble as the gate is just a metal rod iron and wouldn't shut until it made its full opening sequence.

Uno caught her breath and released her backpack from the straps on her arms. She quickly gazed around at her surroundings and tossed her backpack over the brick wall to the best she could and ran towards the gate. She dropped to her knees, rolled onto her back, grabbed the bars, and pulled herself under. She managed to get through with a little trouble and knew, also, that this would probably be around the last time she could do that.

When she got to her feet, she quickly grabbed her backpack and made a deathly run towards the front door.

-

Duo yawned that morning and headed down the stairs. He blinked when he saw Heero sorting through the mail near the front door. He grinned when he noticed he was wearing the silver bracelet that Relena had bought him several years ago.

"So, Heero…finally wearing the little piece of equipment that labels you as Relena's bitch?" Duo grinned when he got off the last step and received a deathly glare from his partner. Duo shrieked back a little. "Sheeze…don't have to get all technical now; I was only joking!"

"Relena and I are engaged." Duo froze, his eyes popped out of his head, and his mouth dropped. "We haven't set a date, but it's a definite."

"Heero…buddy…" Duo's voice trailed off.

"It won't be the first time." Heero turned and headed down the hallway. Duo paused and thought long and hard. He was about to say that Heero was finally going to get some, but now that he puts those words together with his own thoughts, a grin slowly crept up onto his face.

"You actually tapped her! That is _so_ cool!" Duo shouted. He threw a fist into the air when the door began banging from the other side. "Yeah Buddy! You go man!"

Duo chuckled and turned around to open the door. When he did, Uno practically fell in and grabbed at his waist. Duo blinked.

"Duo!" She choked back.

"Uno?" Duo blinked and looked around outside. "Where's Theresa? What are you doing home already?"

Uno was sobbing in Duo's shirt and no one else was around. Uno's backpack was laying on the doorway besides the welcome mat and she was covered in dust and dirt. He knew then that she had crawled underneath the gate to get home…but why? Duo wrapped his arms around her back and rubbed her some.

"Duo!" Uno choked again, crying terribly into his shirt. "We were walking to school, talking and joking around and I bent down to tie my shoe laces…" She sniffled, hugging him even tighter into herself. "And when I didn't hear anything else from her I looked and she was lying on the grass besides me, dead!"

Duo froze; his head lifted up to stare out ahead of himself, his eyes wide and frozen in spot. He could feel Heero's presence behind him doing the same thing.

"She had a bullet hole in between her eyes!"

Uno continued to cry loudly into his shirt and Duo's body slowly began to tremble. Heero's heart was racing. The both of them knew that the shot was meant for Uno.

"Uno sweetie, step inside, please." Duo softly whispered to her. She sniffled and stepped in, still holding onto his waist. Duo looked over and saw Heero stepping up to them; he, too, looked terribly shocked.

They have never actually _expected_ something like this to happen.

Duo shut the front door and turned back to the hallway where he saw Quatre stepping into the group. His face looked twisted and when Quatre saw it, questioned. Heero kept his head down, his own body trembling with fear and anger.

"Uno?" Quatre asked. Uno was balling into Duo's waist. He looked up at Duo with confusion in his face.

"Uno, sweetie." Duo bent down a little to look at her. She sniffled and faced him, depression and fear wracking through her body. "Uno…go to Quatre and he'll help you go up stair and wash up. Okay?" Uno nodded while she sniffled a little more. "Heero and I have to talk and we're be right back, alright? I promise." Uno nodded again, and turned towards Quatre as Duo released her grasp on his shirt.

"Duo?" Quatre questioned. All he got in return was a seriously stern look from Duo that told him, through the eyes, that they'll talk later.

Duo turned to Heero and nodded. Then he opened the door, stepped out, and after Heero left the door shut again. Uno's body was weakened tremendously and she was shaking very badly.

"Uno?"

Quatre looked down and wondered what all the big mess was about. He looked down the hallway of bedrooms and saw Wufei had come out of _his_ room in question. Quatre furrowed his eye brows and looked back down to Uno. He needed to get Uno washed up and put to sleep. He turned to the stairs with her and saw Trowa standing around in the living room with question written on _his_ face, as well. Uno continued to cry and went up stairs with Quatre, still in confusion, behind her.

-

Heero backed out of the driveway in a frenzy and sped the car around in a heap. The drive down to the gate seemed to last more then a few seconds. Theresa had been shot in place of Uno; something was not right here. They tried to assassinate him and now little Uno, a girl of twelve-years-old.

It just wasn't right.

"What did I tell you, Man." Duo stated, growling and looking outside the window for the body. "Someday a war will break out and here you go; assassins to hit you up and fail then kill Uno and somehow miss." Heero veered the car to the side of the road and leaped out as soon as it stopped. "This is just too much all at once." Duo pulled the keys from the ignition and stepped out.

He stepped up to Heero and looked down at Theresa's mangled body. He felt a terribly sharp stab of remorse for her, thought a tiny bit of reassurance that Uno was at home, safe. His lips tightened together and he looked at Heero. Heero was kneeling down besides the body, touching the skin and the blood to see how long ago she had been shot verses how long ago the bullet had killed her. It appeared it killed her on the spot, despite the head wound.

"I can't believe this." Duo fumed, looking down the end of the street to the curve and the bushes and huge oak tree. "Somebody had to have been hiding in those bushes. I'll go check."

Heero lowered his head and looked around then lifted his head and watched as Duo surveyed the area. Duo was right; if anything _had_ shot at them, it had to have been from the bushes up ahead. Damn it; he always _knew_ those were in a terrible spot but Quatre had demanded they remain normal and natural and untouched by civilians until the city decided to build up around his mansion.

He sighed and looked back down to Theresa's body. They were going to have to take her home now and explain to her parents. He knows her parents are going to want to call the police and that must not be done. If this hits the media, then surely the enemy is going to know they are afraid and are warning the public.

Then again, it may buy them time as the enemy wouldn't want the world to know that a terrorist had attacked a child, _especially_ if they plan to attack greatly.

Heero looked up and over to see Duo scanning the bushes and huge oak tree. He was looking around, appearing agitated, and very much annoyed. Duo stood back up, had his hands propped up on his hips, and gave Heero a confused expression while shrugging. He held out his arms and shook his head and Heero looked down back to the body, knowing that the enemy had not intended to ever get caught; just shoot and run.

"Well…I guess it's up to us now."

Heero got to his feet and bent over. Duo was on his way back to the jeep and was watching as Heero lifted up Theresa's lifeless body and carry it over to the backseat of the jeep. Funny—though it shouldn't be at a time like this—but Heero's back seat has been used as a cot for bodies in the past several years since they lived together, whether it be an assassin's body, a dead body, or Duo's own body tied up for torture, he always used the backseat as a compartment for holding humans.

"Heero…what are you doing?" Duo got closer to the car but that didn't stop him from raising his voice for the remaining distance.

Heero laid the body down on the seats, the blood no longer moist enough to stain. Either way, he knew how to get blood stains out of things; if he hadn't, all of his things would be stained still. He stepped back from the jeep and turned down to the ground once again. He bent down and picked up Theresa's backpack.

"Heero?" Duo questioned, heading towards the passengers door.

"We have to go to Theresa's house; explain what Uno said had happened." Heero replied monotonously.

He sat the backpack down on the floor behind them and got in the jeep. Duo handed Heero the keys and the car boomed to life once again. Duo rested his head back against the seat's head rest and sighed very loudly.

"What did you find?" Heero asked, gazing up and down the street and around the fields.

"Nothing, just flattened grass where the person sat, a burrowed hole in the bushes where he obviously hid the rifle, and tire tracks around the base of the oak tree. Only the tracks disappeared when it hit the concrete so definitely someone was waiting for Uno and Theresa to walk to school that morning; somebody knows they walk to school, together."

"Or at least just Uno." Heero added in before driving the jeep away. He reached down and pulled his cell phone out of his jean pockets around his knees. Duo blinked.

"What you doing? Calling them?"

"No; I'm calling Relena. I don't think it'll be best for this new to hit the media." Heero hit the speed dial button of her name and the number dialed.

"You think they're going to?"

"Yes. If an assassin attacked a girl then soon after terrorists hit the towns, people would fear them a greater amount than what there would be."

"But…then that's a _good_ thing…isn't it? I mean, then that way the terrorists won't attack at all." Duo pondered.

"Hn. They don't care about lives, Duo." Heero reminded him and Duo went silent.

-

Quatre was sitting besides the bed in Uno's room, softly brushing his hand across her cheek as she fell asleep. He felt a great swell of pity for her; something had happened and it had happened horribly wrong. Uno finally told him about an hour later when she sat in the bathroom, curled up in a ball in the corner, crying and balling her eyes out. Quatre sat besides her on the toilet lid, trying to sooth her and find out what was wrong when she told him.

Since then, he felt extremely saddened and hurt very much. But right now, she was safe in their mansion, with the security system back up and running in top condition, and protected by the ex-Gundam pilots; nothing was going to get to her even if it valued his _own_ life.

Quatre retrieved his hand and remained sitting besides her in the chair for an extra minute before standing up. He looked down at her and felt emotionally hurt for her. No one else of the entire group could have felt the utter helplessness and hurt that he felt, sharing it with Uno. He had a gift of understanding one another's pain and passion, knowing how badly they felt by feeling it himself. Duo had used to tease him about it, calling him a little weak-hearted imp, but he didn't mind; he knew Duo was only teasing and did not quite fully understand his ability.

Quatre turned and left the room slowly. Behind him, he shut the door very softly and backed away quietly. On his way down the stairs, he wanted to cry for her but it just wouldn't come. He knew that now, as Duo has said so many times in the past when Uno had just entered the family that a time would come where war will return. Duo was right in his predicaments; that time _had_ come and it had come hard and fast.

Quatre stepped off the staircase and looked down the hallway. He figured Wufei was still in his bedroom and instead of going down there to tell him, he figured to wait until Heero and Duo returned. He knew where they went; they were to the scene of the crime to investigate and pick up the body. They knew what had to be done and they were doing it themselves.

Quatre paused upon entering the living room and found Trowa and Wufei discussing topics of understatement. Quatre figured he didn't look so well as Trowa paused in mid sentence and questioned his composure.

"Quatre? What's wrong? You look drastic." Trowa's soft voice reached the air and Quatre only wondered what it would feel like if Trowa had died in his place one day.

"Quatre?" Wufei had spoken up as well. "What happened earlier; why was Uno crying and not going to school?"

Quatre looked down, his own voice soft like his fellow friends. His body was quivering and shaking tremendously, his breath harsh and ragged. He didn't know how to explain Uno's fright from earlier.

"Quatre?" Trowa had called his name again and just hearing on his friend's lips made him feel even more depressed than he had before.

"Uno and Theresa were on the way to school." Quatre stumbled to say Theresa's name; it stuck on his lips as a fear with a groggy taste stuck onto a shaking body. "Uno had to tie her shoes and bent down to do it. She said Theresa was quiet and she looked back to see her dead."

The look on Trowa and Wufei's faces were a blank stare filled with shock and dread.

"She was shot in place of Uno." Quatre blurted out in torture of himself.

"Oh my God." Trowa murmured.

"Impossible." Wufei blinked.

All three of them were in shock at what had happened.

"Where's Uno now?" Trowa had asked with a hint of urgency.

"I helped her wash up; she's asleep now." Quatre remained focused on the ground. "Heero and Duo went to retrieve the body and return it home." A tear fell from Quatre's eyes. "She was so young."

-

"I still can't believe it had happened." Duo stated that afternoon on the drive home.

Theresa's parents, Lori and Billy, had allowed them to stay a bit longer than a few minutes to an hour. They were devastated when they heard about the news and when Billy went out with Heero to get the body, Lori collapsed in a heap of tears. Duo had sat besides her and comforted her to the best she could get, to the best he could give, and tried to sooth her.

The first thing Billy had said to Heero when they went outside was something Heero hadn't expected.

"Is Uno alright?" And Heero had replied 'yes, but she's still drastic over it all.'

When Billy returned inside with Heero, he had noticed Lori had cried herself to sleep in Duo's arms; Duo was, as well, drenched with his own fears for everything.

"I mean, just this morning, she and Uno were in a wonderful mood. Lori had dropped her off at six o'clock and she had the chance to wake up Uno. I stood in the doorway and watched her smack Uno several times with a pillow until fought back. They were having a blast!" Duo chanted on. "What jackass would want to go and end all of that?!"

"Someone who knows about us and doesn't want Uno to fight them." Heero replied without emotion.

"Well to hell with them!" Duo growled. "I'm making sure her training gets a _whole_ lot tougher now, harder on her and all! Got it!" Duo snapped at Heero. "No more play, no more nuthin' but training and more training!"

"Don't forget her homework." Heero reminded him. Duo paused.

"They didn't go today."

"She's going to school tomorrow. Billy will go tomorrow as well to withdraw Theresa's name from the school's account." Heero turned a corner.

"But…"

"Her name will still be on record, but no longer present." Heero stated. "Right now, what you need to do is go home and give Uno all the support you can give her."

"You're telling me. Don't forget, I lost Father Maxwell and Sister Helen in my grasp because I escaped death."

Duo paused and realized that, what had began his motivation to run off as the God of Death is the same sequence that had just repeated for Uno. She now has nothing holding her back from being the Goddess of Death except her family and Ricky.

When they got back to the house, Heero opened the front door and Duo bent down to pick up Uno's backpack from earlier that morning. It still had her books in it, all the papers she was supposed to turn into class, everything; only it wasn't attached to Uno.

Heero stepped into the living room with Duo behind him, placing Uno's backpack on his shoulder. He looked around and a puzzled expression came on his face.

"Where is she?" He asked softly.

"I put her to sleep soon after you left. She's been a sleep since; I've checked up on her but still, she hasn't woken." Quatre's soft voice never faulted from its silent purr. Duo nodded.

"It's a hard day for her; that's for sure." Duo turned and walked out of the living room.

When he entered Uno's bedroom, he saw her curled up in a ball under the cushions, sleeping to the best she could probably sleep. Duo laid her backpack down on her desk and stepped up to the bed. He sat down besides her and trailed his hand across her cheek. As if magic, Uno slowly opened her eyes and looked up into his, a deep set of sadness settling across both of their faces.

"Hey sweetie." Duo's managed to smile against his will. "How do you feel?"

Uno sniffled; she's still been crying. "I still can't believe that it actually happened. It feels like it was just a nightmare but I know that's not true because I'm not in school, today."

Duo sighed, his lips thin. He looked down and slowly nodded his head, tears threatening to sting his eyes as well as hers. For the past six years, Theresa had felt like a daughter of his own; he yelled at her at a few times when the both of them got in trouble, he split the two of them apart and made them do things they didn't want to do as punishment, he even picked her up from school and took care of her when her parents weren't able too. He was there a _lot_ for her, as much as Uno, and cared for her like family and now she was gone and it tore apart his very soul like when he was little and lost his family from the church.

"Will I ever get to see her again, Duo?" Uno had asked and brought Duo back to reality from depressing memories of his childhood. However, her question made him wonderous.

"Huh?" He blinked in weary caution.

"Will I ever get to see her again? You say God only takes those who have to go right then; that he won't take unless they are ready to go." Uno paused, a single tear falling. "Was Theresa ready to go? Will I ever get to see her again?"

Duo remained silent in thought and lifted his hand to wipe her tear away. He didn't really know what to say to that. He never gave it a thought to the world to even trust in God, and here Uno was asking whether or not she'll get to see her best friend again.

Slowly, Duo withdrew his hand and sighed. "In time…when God feels it's time for you to see her again, he'll make the arrangements. But that won't be for a while, Uno. Once he takes you, he takes you and there's no coming back."

Uno looked down. "I miss her." More tears spilled.

Duo pulled her into his arms and held her for a long time, trying so hard not to cry, himself. "I know, Uno." Duo retorted, looking up into the ceiling, trying not to cry and failing at it. "I know, but some of us are destined to stay in the world while others are not."

Uno sniffled. "I don't care; why did she have to go?"

Duo shut his eyes and lowered his head to hers. He rested his chin on the top of her head and cried. He cried for Theresa, he cried for his childhood; he cried because he was remembering what it felt like when he lost Father Maxwell and Sister Helen.

"Uno, sometimes things happen that we can't help. Even if we're there, we sometimes can't help what happens." The both of them sniffled and Duo felt dread in his heart for everything. "Honestly, Uno, war is what causes things like this to happen; war for greed, power, money, or just revenge. It steals lives; always. There's never remorse until the very end and sometimes there isn't even remorse at the end of _that_."

Uno sniffled again. Duo shut his eyes, remembering the hurt that had come to him when he held Sister Helen one last time.

"Uno, when I was about the age you came to me, six-years-old, I lived in a church as an orphan. I was the only one there. I grew up in a street gang, friends of the wildest, roughest and toughest, and cruelest kids around the L2 block, and one day the priest at the local church took us all in as orphans, starting up a branch just for us." Duo sniffled. "Weeks have gone by and all my friends were taken up by other families; I was left behind. I got into fights because nobody had liked me; I got my first hug from Sister Helen. Father Maxwell was going to raise me on his own, along with Sister Helen, and was hoping I would become a priest just like him someday. But one day, war broke out on top of the church and to defend the church and Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, I fled out to find a mobile suit on their command. I found one, risked my life as I stole it, and brought it to them. I returned to the church to see it was burned to the ground, Father Maxwell no where to be seen, and Sister Helen on the verge of death." Duo's eyes watered heavily. "She died in my arms, praying that the Lord will always keep me."

Uno sniffled and hugged him tighter; Duo wrapped his arms more securely around his daughter and inhaled her scent deeply.

"So you see…even those who have never done anything wrong are still taken away by God's grace. Perhaps he was protecting her, perhaps he was protecting you. God taking Father Maxwell and Sister Helen protected me by sending me away to steal a mobile suit and when I returned and I saw Sister Helen die in my arms, her words hitting my very soul, I knew then that God was telling me this had to be; that I had to fight to defend the church, that I had to get my vengeance for the Maxwell Church Tragedy." Duo stopped to catch his breath and pull back. He wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt and looked down at her. He wiped her tears away as well.

"So you see, God had taken Theresa away as protecting you. And at the same time, he wants you to avenge her death just as I had with the church fire. He's telling you that, if you had been killed in place, we would be in great danger and took her as a warning."

Uno looked up at him her eyes focusing as always on his face and what he was saying. She looked adorable when she cried, even if she was sad. Duo couldn't let here stay alone tonight, even he didn't want to, and lifted her up out of bed and into his strong arms.

-

The following day was the returning to school day for Uno and when the corvette door opened, she looked back at Duo with a fake smile. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car. She turned around and shut the door then proceeded to the school. Duo remained and watched until the doors shut behind her and she disappeared behind the middle school walls. When she was out of sight, he drove off.

Uno stepped into the classroom, a minute after the bell had rung, and silently made her way to the back of the class room where her seat had been. Every head in the room turned her direction and Uno ignored them all, walking her best to her desk and keeping her head down. When she sat down, she tried not to look to the desk behind her, picturing Theresa there doodling around on paper, drawing pictures of monsters eating classmates or random things while humming made-up tunes.

It was a hard task, but it had to be done sometime. Unfortunately, Uno tried her hardest to not cry in the classroom or at all unless she was back at home in her room, but it wasn't easy. Every face she saw reminded her of Theresa's; every laugh and voice she heard made her want to call up Theresa's parents and wonder where her best friend was. Every thought she had was of her and Theresa's, joking, racing, playing, or even just signing together.

They had the Talent Show in two days…it looked like Uno was going to withdraw from it.

"Denise?" Mr. Merquise called roll.

"Here."

"Ivona?"

"He-ah." The poor girl was still learning English.

"Latina?"

"Present." A black girl raised her hand with a smirk; she reminded Uno of Brittany at times.

"Denis?"

"Here." A deep voice shot out and another pencil flew to the ceiling.

"Denis, do that again and you go to the principal's office." Mr. Merquise warned him.

"Cool, can I go anyways?" Denis asked. Mr. Merqiuse blinked in question at him then rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Laurence?"

"Here."

"Uno?" Mr. Merquise nodded, hearing Uno's faint—extremely quiet—'here' in return. "Theresa?"

Everyone looked around in confusion and Uno stayed quiet. She took in a shivering breath and just barely released it commonly. Mr. Merquise looked up and around in question.

"She's probably sick again." Carl mentioned. "She was absent yesterday as well. Maybe she has that stomach bug that's going around."

"Uno? Where is Theresa?" Mr. Merquise was looked at her. Uno kept her head down and replied almost silently. "Uno?"

"…She's dead."

The room went dead still and Mr. Merquise thought he had misheard her at first. The only thing that told him he heard right was the silence of the room. Theresa was dead; it make perfect sense to him now, after all, Uno was never this sad when she came to school in all the years he'd known her.

Mr. Merquise handed the roll sheet to Stephanie. "Stephanie; finish taking roll for me." He looked up to Uno. "Uno; come outside, please."

Uno nodded slowly and stood up. She headed outside and behind her followed Mr. Merquise. He shut the door behind them and bent down to face her. He noticed her face had tears on it; she failed the battle against crying and he could tell she was trying so hard not to lose.

"Uno?" He rested his hands on her shoulders. "What happened?"

"She and I were walking to school yesterday morning." Uno paused to sniffle back some more tears. "She when I bent down to tie my shoes, she was shot in the head."

Mr. Merquise felt the blood in him run cold. He knew, already, what had happened.

"Duo said an assassin tried to get me and missed. He said that Theresa was killed and since Heero had an assassin after him several years ago, that it may happen again."

"Uno…" Mr. Merquise knelt down and faced her. He lifted her chin up and looked at her.

"I miss her so much. Duo told me I had to come to school anyways, but I can't. Everything I see—everything I hear and think about—it all has her in it!" Uno was crying now and Mr. Merquise wrapped his arms around her for a supporting hug. Uno hugged back tightly, not knowing what was going to happen now.

"Did Duo drop you off?"

Uno nodded and sniffled again. "He's going to pick me up as well. He said he took off work for the rest of the week to settle things out with everyone else."

Mr. Merquise nodded and he pulled back from the hug. Uno managed an actual smile.

"Thank you for always being there." She sniffled again. Mr. Merquise nodded.

"Uno, go inside and pack your things. I'm going to take you home."

Uno sniffled. "You know where I live?" She asked.

He nodded. "We're all old…friends."

"Okay." Uno's reply was very quiet and when she entered the classroom again, Mr. Merquise followed in behind her.

"Stephanie; thank you."

He picked up the roll sheet and crossed off Theresa's name from the list. He looked back at the classroom and stood there a minute, remembering all the faces and the love he had of teaching all these years. He took a deep breath and gave them all his final instructions.

"Class," he paused, noticing Uno stepping out of the room's way to look at him and out into the hallway. "I want you to read chapters one and two in your History books."

Mr. Merquise quickly grabbed a few pictures from the side of the computer and sitting in frames on his desk. He grabbed the box of tissues then shut the door. He sure was going to miss teaching, especially now that he had finally been able to hit his favorite topic in history: war.

He looked down at Uno and handed her the box of Kleenex. She gratefully received it and followed him down the hallway. She noticed he had his pictures from his desk with him and pondered about that, but only shrugged the thought away.

She followed him to the front desk and watched as he spoke to the people over the counter.

"Excuse me, Gladys; I would like to withdraw a student." Uno blinked up in question at Mr. Merquise.

"Alright; their name?" She sat down at the computer and hit a few keys.

"Uno Maxwell and Theresa Sanders."

"Alright." The lady hit more keys and Uno looked around the school If she was withdrawing, then that means she'd never step foot back into this school again. At least Ricky had already withdrawn; his dad hired a private tutor, thinking his family business needed more attention than his education.

"Alright, Uno Maxwell. Theresa Sanders is removed. May I have an understanding as to why these two are removed?" She looked at Mr. Merquise in question. Uno blinked up at him as well.

"They have hit a rough section in the educational learning process. They need to be tutored privately outside of public school." He paused. "I will also need a substitute for my class room. M350 is the room number."

The lady nodded, typing in the commands needed on the computer screen. Uno smirked and looked back down. Mr. Merquise sure knew how to lie when the time came.

When Uno followed Mr. Merquise to his red Lincoln Mercedes, she yawned. The car was clean and fresh. It seemed like he hardly ever drove in it. Uno sat in and buckled up. She sniffled again, pulling out another tissue to wipe her nose and eyes with, and looked out the window. When he sat in the started the car, she questioned him.

"Why did you take me out of school?" She pondered, innocently, up at him.

"I'm retiring as well. I think it's time I tutor you myself." He stayed quiet.

She looked out the window as the scenery drove by her in a fast blur. "Well…then I guess, I thank you; Mr. Merky."

Mr. Merquise smirked and slowly lowered his head. "Uno…don't call me that anymore. I will be more of your mentor from now on."

"Huh?" Uno blinked up at him.

"My name is Zechs; call me that." He stayed quiet until the drive to her home was finished.

-

Duo and Heero were discussing the topic of related war quarrels when the door bell rang. Once again in question, Duo stood up. Heero stood with him, wondrous as to who would be coming to _their_ house at mid morning, early noon. Duo strode down the hallway with a smile plastered on his face despite the pain still tearing at his soul. Heero followed behind, scratching his arms.

He growled.

"Well, then stop scratching it, Heero!" Duo grinned.

Heero forgot how much Duo loved to be an ass and when he was in an upset mood, would play jokes on people to cheer himself up; like this time. Duo had thrown itching powder all over Heero when he walked in earlier today from cleaning the backseat of his jeep.

Duo chuckled a bit then reached for the door.

"Uno!" Duo paused after his smile faded. "Why aren't you in school?"

The door opened a little bit wider and then Duo saw a face he hadn't seen in nearly ten years. He freaked out when he saw him, but he _knew_ it was the same guy. Zechs Merquise; back from the living Hell.

"Zechs! The hell are _you_ doing here?!" Duo shouted. Heero paused in his footsteps and blinked at him in pure wonder.

Uno stepped inside and Zechs stepped in behind her. Quatre raced down to the hallway and paused when he saw the familiar face. Trowa looked over from the second floor balcony. Zechs smiled and slowly bowed.

"Uno…is this Mr. Merky?" Duo asked. Uno nodded and headed upstairs. Zechs just stood there and grinned.

"Since I first had Uno she's heard my name pronounced without the last remained syllables and apparently thought it was 'Merky' instead of 'Merquise." Zechs shrugged. "I didn't mind the subtle change from her calling out my name verses my other students."

"But what is she doing home so soon?" Duo asked the question that was eating away his insides.

"I withdrew her from school, took off Theresa's name from the list as well, and I, myself, retired from teaching." Zechs replied. He smiled and nodded at Quatre when Quatre held out his hand for his jacket. "Thank you, Quatre. So how have you all been?"

"Wonderful up until yesterday, thank you." Quatre replied, pulling back and hanging up the jacket in the coat closet besides them.

"But, why withdraw her?" By now, Duo and Quatre and Zechs were the only ones remaining in the hallway. Trowa had returned to the closet he was organizing within and Heero went to take a shower.

"It was obvious Theresa was shot in place of Uno that the assassin had missed a great deal and got her instead." Zechs paused. "I think it's time to teach Uno all the needs to know about war and get her ready for what's to come. I have retired to spend the time with her and tutor her."

"Hm…smart thinking." Duo shrugged.

"Well, if you need anything at all, just ask. I can buy a copy of anything from anywhere in this entire town; probably from any where in this Universe." Quatre commented. Zechs nodded in approval and in his thanks.

"I appreciate that."

"Would you like to stay here?" Quatre offered.

"No, but thank you anyways. I have an apartment not far from here, but if it ever gets late I may stay a night."

"That's quite alright with me. I have _plenty_ of room now that I've opened up the rest of the mansion."

"So…you think it's time then, huh?" Duo put his hands on his hips and sighed. Zechs nodded.

"It's time. Her training has to get harder and I intend to prepare her for the worst."


	28. Channel of Sorrow

**AN:** Yes!!! 200 reviews and more!!! And this was faster than the first time it was uploaded.  
Also, thanks a bunch to my good friend out there for helping me with the translations; from before when it was up, the translations of French and Dutch weren't entirely correct.

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Duo's Child

Chapter 28

A year after her best friend's death, Uno had finally decided to get out into the public once again. For several months, she'd remained indoors, training under everyone's style of combat—and more—to regain her composure and strength. For months, she's spent many hours with Zechs learning more than she had never known before.

Currently she was learning Latin and Spanish; she had already completed Japanese, French, and German. She had caught up on her medical knowledge with the help of Sally Po, her Governmental knowledge from Relena and Lady Une, and even managed to find the time to learn, from Wufei, how to drive a bike. The bike business was the hard part; both she and Wufei never had the same time off to train on that. With Duo's help, she's even managed to kick more of the arcade games in the Music Wing and Ricky taught the two of them about the switch boards of the DJ Booth and Recording Studio.

All entirely, coping with Theresa's death had slowed down all of her will to learn and go on; if not for Zechs being by her side almost 24-7, then she would probably be moping along the streets right now, in search of her friend's assassin.

But here she was, walking along the crowded streets of the market plaza in the streets of downtown, no longer worried about being shot at; if anybody shot her around here, there would be too many people to claim witness to the attack. Children were gathered around a stuffed animal booth to her left, screaming and pleading, reaching and trying to get a hold of some of the cute little animals the booth had for sale. Uno smiled when she watched a little girl with short red hair stretching and reaching for a brown cat. An older lady—probably the girl's mother—had picked up the cat and gave it to her; the girl smiled in delight.

To her right was a man on top of a stage, speaking through a microphone, alerting all ticket holders of the nearby booth, who the winner-of-the-hour is; he was currently giving away book sets of encyclopedias and the likes. A few people gathered around the bottom of the stage and checked their ticket stubs to see if they won. Some people groaned around Uno as she made her way through the forming crowd, but a loud cheer came on from a group across the ally near another booth selling candy and chocolates.

Uno managed to get through the crowd and paused at the next booth to her right. She blinked in 'aw' when she noticed some of the jewelry that was shown and up for sale. Diamonds and gold earrings, silver and copper bracelets, bronze and jade rings; just about everything under the sun was up for sale. As Uno neared closer to the booth, a sparkle had hit her eyes and made her look to the top of the selection. There, above all other items, was a set of earrings, silver with set diamonds, attached to loops. It matched the necklace, bracelet, and ring that Uno had received from Theresa's parents on account of her death—along with several other belongings.

"Voyez-vous quelque chose que vous aimez?" (_See you something that you like?_) The red haired man behind the booth asked.

"Huh?" Uno blinked; the man was speaking French. She smirked; good thing she learnt it.

"Combien sont-ils, ceux-là?" (_How much are those?_) Uno asked as she pointed to the earrings. The man looked down and back up at Uno, smiling.

"Quatre cent dollars." (_Four hundred dollars.)_

"Quatre cent dollars!" (_Four hundred dollars!_) Uno's eyes shot out. She was astounded. "J'ai le reste de la série et ils ne sont pas si chères!" (_I have the rest of the set and it doesn't cost that much!_)

The man leant over the table and looked closely at her necklace, bracelet, and ring as Uno had shown him. His lips pulled back into a thin line and he looked like he was thinking a lot. He sighed deeply and sat back again.

"Deux cent." (_Two hundred._) He said in an unfortunate tone.

Uno narrowed her eyes. "Ils n'ont pas cette valeur." (_They're not even worth that much._)

He narrowed his eyes in return. "Cent et cinquante dollars, alors." (_One hundred and fifty dollars then._)

"Cinquante." (_Fifty._) The man growled and got to his feet quickly. He slammed his hands down on the tabletop and leant over to glare closely at her face.

"Un-cent dollars." (_One hundred dollars._) The man snarled back at her through clenched teeth.

Uno leant closer and stood her ground. "Soixante." (_Sixty._)

The man growled and pulled back. "Fille stupide." (_Stupid girl._) He sat back in his seat once again and looked up at her. Uno was staring down at the man, her nostrils flaring, her temper rising.

_He had just called her stupid!_

"Connard incompetent!" (_Incompetent idiot!_)

The man's eyes lit up and his mouth slowly dropped. Uno was playing his game right back and harder than he was and she wasn't about to back down any time soon. She wanted these earrings and she wanted them _now_ and she _won't_ over pay for them, especially when she already had the rest of the set.

The man groaned and shut his eyes as he turned away. He fanned the earrings with his hand and relaxed in his chair.

"Va de l'avant et les prendre, vous l'Américain stupide." (_Go ahead and take them, you stupid American._)

Uno narrowed her eyes again and reached for the earrings. She'd won the battle and now she got to take the earrings for free! But…that rude man had called her a stupid American.

Uno looped the earrings through her ears and snarled back at the man before leaving the booth.

"Je vous verrai dans l'enfer, vous le pénis aime les Français!" (_See you in Hell, you penis loving Frenchmen!_)

From the corner of her eyes, the man lifted his head, widened his eyes, and dropped his mouth. Uno smirked and shut her eyes while bowing her head; she had just won him the battle of the earrings, told him off, and won all together and walked away from it all. That man now knows not _all_ American's are stupid.

She continued walking and passed the electronics sections of the plaza. Both sides, booths were crowded with people of all sorts for video games, music, movies, and more. She was tempted to take a look at what the booths offered, but she was running a bit short on time and needed to get home. That forbidden man had taken most of her time!

A hand grabbed hold of her right elbow and gripped tightly. Uno paused and looked back at her arm, noticing the old-looking, wrinkly fingers wrapped tightly around her arm. Both men were dressed in casual blue slacks, either a green shirt or a black shirt, and shined-up black dress shoes; they dressed good for senior citizens.

"You're a Maxwell." An old man with a scar across his face questioned.

"And you're an idiot." She replied, sarcastically. The man smirked and released her arm. "What do you want?"

"We heard your fiasco with the Frenchman, just a few minutes ago." The second man said. This guy had a cane and a metal hand that seemed to frighten her some; it had three prongs for fingers and that reminded her of all those Hentai she watched behind Duo's back.

"And?" Uno narrowed her eyes and tensed up. "You don't expect me to go and apologize, do you?"

"Not at all." The man with a cane replied.

"Good." Uno smirked and set her fists on her hips.

"You sure _do_ look a lot like Duo, as Heero described. He even said you've always acted like him as you've grown up." The man with the cane grinned.

"Yes, Heero _did_ say Uno's resemblance to Duo is almost identical." The man with the scar looked over her body and made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

"How do you know of me?" Uno growled, standing up at a full form.

"Heero has sent us information regarding you over the years. Since Duo found you off the streets, they have all decided to raise you and train you." The man with the scar explained.

"How do you know of them?" Uno asked, her eyes narrowing; she was tempted to draw out her knife from her back pocket.

"I was the one who put Duo where he is today; I am Professor G. Doctor J is the cause for everything you see of Heero. We were the ones responsible for the wars in the past."

Uno blinked. "_You_ sent them to war?"

"In a way; they were already within it on their own. Doctor J programmed Heero for war and he was the main one responsible for the beginning; Duo happened to land in my lap." G explained.

"So you know of me through Heero, I see." Uno places her fists on her hips again and relaxed. "And I was about to attack you both."

"Not us." J grinned. "We're not the ones you want to kill; not if we can help provide you the means of a basis for future wars."

"And how do you suppose to do that?" Uno grinned and tilted her head.

"By building you a Gundam." G stated flatly. Uno's face went blank. "Though we're not sure what it'll need and how powerful it will have to become, but we'll do all that we need to in order to obtain peace once again."

"Give Heero this card." J stated, reaching out to her and handing her a small card. "This is the number of the flat were we both live. We're in secret in the downtown area; not many people know we're still alive and who we are, but we're there."

"Sure." Uno nodded, taking the card and putting it in her back pocket. She took a step back.

"You're leaving?" G asked.

"I've got a date tonight." Uno replied. "I don't want to be late."

"Very well; give that card to Heero and be sure he gets it." G demanded. Uno nodded and turned to continue walking away, her fists stuffed in her front pockets.

"A true Maxwell; she even acts the same way of him." J stated as the two of them watched her walk away until she disappeared. "Almost makes me wonder if Duo really had a child back in his prime state."

"I wouldn't be surprised. He was always looking for trouble and he would get it anywhere he'd go." G replied.

-

Uno finally reached her bike and hopped on. It was black, it was sporty, and it was fast; Duo even got a good deal on it.

Jenkins was very astonished that Duo had managed to sell a newer model Volvo to an older couple, both frightened to death of automobiles from their history of accidents. He was even amazed so much that Duo had not only repaired some kids bike, but he cranked up the boost with more goodies, gave the look of a new paint job and body wear, and even discounted the price, putting in some of his own hard work as the effort pay. Jenkins was proud that Duo knew how to promote his ideas in the right way; after all, if you boost up a normal bike and charge full price, you'll get sued for things not listed on the stats but by lowering the price, Duo just made a good, future-returning, customer.

As in this time, Jenkins was so honorable of Duo that for a bonus he was going to give Duo a separate check of fifty-grand, but instead Duo took just enough out of it to buy Uno her very own bike; the rest he spent for a ring.

Grumbling with a sudden exhaustion, Uno started up the bike and kicked it into action. She grabbed the black helmet hanging from the bars and latched it on, her braid hanging down from behind. The wheels peeled out as she spun the bike around in a circle until she was facing the opposite direction and lifted off the ground. Flooring the urge to speed up, she raced through yellow lights and traffic until she got in front of all the other people on the road. Lights flashed by as she raced on and everything shined off her polished helmet.

She didn't know who those two guys were, but she'd have something for Heero; that card and a few questions.

-

Uno reached the gates of the mansion and drove on through as they stood open. She didn't know why but perhaps they were broken…again. They've been broken before and Quatre had Heero go out and fix it. She supposed she could tell him they're open again.

She pulled up under the front door cathedral ceiling and parked the bike just next to Wufei's. When she walked up to the door, there was a package near the front door assigned for Do. Blinking, she passed it and went on inside.

"Well Quatre agrees that it will be for the best." Trowa's soft voice let Uno know she wasn't home alone.

"But Trowa, why would I want to send her to military school? We can get it right here from Heero." Duo smirked; Heero looked up from the newspapers and slowly shook his head as he stared back at Trowa. Trowa smirked and shrugged.

"Send me where?" Uno spoke up. Duo spun his head around, shocked looking.

"Uno!" up paused. "What did you hear?"

Uno shrugged. "Nothing I guess. You got a box by the front door."

"You didn't bring it in for me?" Duo slouched.

"No." Uno reached back to her back pocket to retrieve the card. "Heero, the front gate's open again."

"…" Heero sighed, rolled his eyes, and shook his head as he fixed the papers and restacked them on the table.

"Who is…Professor G and Doctor J?" Uno paused in thought as she looked at the card in her hands.

Duo froze. "Professor G? Doctor J?" Duo swallowed. "How do you know of them?" Duo slowly turned around to face her and Heero looked up in wonder.

"Well…they stopped me when I was in the market. Said I looked like a Maxwell and that what Heero was telling them about me all these years, they knew who I was." Uno looked at Heero who in return smirked.

"Heero?!" Duo snapped his head around to glares his comrade.

Uno leant over the couch and handed Heero the card. "They wanted me to give you that; their address and such." She shrugged.

Duo slouched and sighed. "Ughn…so..." He began as he put his arms behind his head. "How's the old goon's doin' these days, eh?"

Uno shrugged. "I don't know. J's metal arm scares me a little." Uno walked into the kitchen. Heero snickered as he turned the card over and put it in his back pocket.

"He did to me as well in my younger years." He stated. He looked over at Duo. "Duo?"

"Why did they have to survive? I thought they died in the White Fang." He was pouting.

Heero smirked. "J and G were the only two who survived. They weren't next to the self destruct and only got blown away to the other side of Libra. The rest were killed; they just suffered severely."

Duo glared Heero. "And you knew this _entire_ time, that they were still alive."

Heero nodded. "Mmhm. If I had told you, you would try and kill them."

"And you didn't want to do them away, yourself?"

Heero shook his head. "We three knew another war was going to come, eventually."

Duo blinked. "How?"

"White Fang and Mareimaia left a hefty reminder." Duo pondered; Heero lowered his voice so only Duo and Trowa could hear over other listening ears. "Mobile suits are _still_ being designed and ideas are being stolen. Synodd is taking old ideas from OZ and combining them with newer forms of combat. We're unsure yet, but I kept in contact all these years with J and G to find out."

Trowa blinked. "You knew all this time they were alive and you didn't tell anyone about it?"

Heero nodded. "Safety purposes; however, it's now clear that history's slowly repeating itself. Relena's been getting threats but those we can counter."

"So what's gonna' happen; to us, at least?" Duo asked casually.

"We just sit and wait." Heero answered. Even though the three of them knew, they won't be fighting this war; it'll be Uno and Uno alone.

-

Ricky stepped out of his black 2001 Firebird at seven o'clock that night. His dad had bought him the car as a birthday gift and he was bound to show Uno.

He rang the doorbell and immediately got drenched from above with icy cold water. Ricky froze and looked up to see Duo grinning down on top of him. He blinked. The door began to open slowly and when he looked back to it, a gun barrel pointed directly at his face with a determined deathly look from Heero behind it.

"Um…" Ricky panicked. "Uno home?"

Heero nodded but the door was shoved opened and he was pushed aside.

"Heero, put that away." Uno grumbled as if it was a normal thing to gunpoint people—especially her dates. She looked at Ricky and smiled. "Hey!"

"Uh…hey Uno, heh." Ricky shrugged. Uno blinked at him.

"Why are you wet?"

Ricky looked up and Uno followed him. She saw nothing and blinked back down at him.

"Nothing." Ricky shrugged. He'll get Duo back eventually.

Uno shrugged and turned back to Duo. "I'm going out!" She called back.

"Be back at a reasonable hour." Duo thought for a moment. "Like eight tonight."

"Duo! That's in one hour." Uno grumbled.

"Yeah…so you can't go far." Duo meant it in more than one way and Uno knew that. She glared him. "I'll be back at ten." And with that, she slammed the door shut.

Duo growled and turned back to the living room to go get Heero.

"Let's follow them."

"Duo! You have to learn to trust Uno. She's thirteen now." Quatre lectured. "You need to trust her."

"Yeah, I do." Duo admitted. "But Ricky's now seventeen; I _don't_ trust him!"

Heero nodded in agreement. Quatre shook his head.

"Duo…let her take the chance. Uno's been on her own a lot; she can handle things. And incase somebody tries to attack her, Ricky's there. Even _if_ he's much older than her now, they've been together for about ten years, or around that."

Duo grumbled. "Seven years, to be exact."

"Well, there you go." Quatre smiled.

"That's still not enough time for me to trust him not to make a move on my daughter!" Duo fumed and stormed out of the room. Heero blinked from behind.

"I thought it was only as a joke." Heero mumbled.

-

Uno walked up to Ricky's car and froze in shock. She was standing in front of a brand new, 2001 black Pontiac Firebird.

"Ricky!" Uno shouted in amazement. Ricky electronically unlocked the door and opened it up for her.

"I know." He grinned. "My dad's gift for me turning seventeen."

"What happened to the bike you were planning on getting last year?" She felt a little pain strike at her heart remembering when he was talking about getting a hookup from Johnson for a bike; Theresa was by her side then. It hurt to remember her best friend but Uno kept it hidden. Ricky could see the pain on her face and it hurt him to be reminded of her loss.

"It fell through. The guy hooking Johnson up was planning on just taking the money and running."

"Really?" She blinked in amazement.

He nodded. "Yeah. The guy's girlfriend told him so…you know how that went. She stayed the night once and I think she told Johnson that same night…Johnson was probably too good for her to lie to." He grinned perversely.

Uno smirked. "Pervert."

Ricky shrugged. "I'm a guy, what can I say?" Uno looked back at the car. "So what do you think?"

"It's beautiful." She said, looking back at him in the face.

Ricky smirked. "Thanks." He leant over the car door and gave Uno a peck on the lips as she sat inside. When he sat in afterwards and started the car, he turned and faced her again.

"I like that dress on you." He said in a polite manner and not perverted. "It fits you well."

And indeed it did; she was in a black dress that clung to her body like a second skin, all the way down to her ankles, and had a slit up her right leg to her thighs. The neck was just low enough to show her short silver chain and dragon charm Ricky had bought her for her tenth birthday and there were no sleeves. Ricky was dressed in just a nice black sweater and black jeans that Uno had always liked on him; it made his ass look very hot.

"How does your dad have all this money to give to you?" She asked as he drove them away from the mansion, shifting gears when needing to.

It took him a moment to think of his answer. "He gets big paychecks. That…and Johnson sometimes feels bad for me."

Uno blinked. "Why?"

"Because he thinks my dad runs me ragged and abuses me all the time." His voice stayed low.

"Ricky…you should really report him for that. He's always done that to you." She lowered her voice to a concerning tone.

"It's nothing." He lied. "He doesn't mean to, at least. His work gets stressful and he's trying to be there for me as a father. I can understand why he's so angry all the time; his work isn't going the way he wants it too. They've changed the plans right in the middle of his current project; it pissed him off tremendously."

"Is that why you don't work? Because of your tutor?" She asked, changing the topic so he could feel better. Ricky nodded.

"I don't have time and Dad feel's it's safer for me at home. I guess he thinks all the fights I used to get into were going to lower my scores of getting into a good college." He lied; he couldn't tell her the truth that his dad was tired of the school calling and reporting his son's absence all the time. After all, work runs them _both_ ragged and weary.

"I'm so sorry." Uno said softly.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Uno." He smiled over at her. "I'm driving now so I can come see you whenever I want or whenever I need to get away."

She smiled and nodded her head. "Good; no more abuse."

Uno looked back out the window. Ricky stayed quiet knowing the 'no more abuse' wish would never come true. His father's work took a little more than a wish to do away with.

-

They were seated elegantly at the _Luncheon Dinet_, an extremely expensive, elegant, classy restaurant. Uno felt a little nervous considering the fact that Quatre mentions how well known this place is to famous people and how Duo wishes he could come here just once; hell, the cheapest ring he found for Hildie wouldn't even cost enough to dine for a single diner here.

Uno watched as Ricky opened the menu and casually glanced at the items. He looked as if he's done this before, but he was only seventeen; how many seventeen-year-olds dine at an elegant restaurant?

"Uno, you can order whatever you want." Ricky smiled. "I got it covered."

Uno blinked. "You sure?"

She glanced at the orders and prices, attempting to buy the cheapest thing they had. Unfortunately, the cheapest thing there was to order was a side menu of french-fries for twenty dollars. She swallowed back a wad of nerves lodged in the back of her throat. It was so classy here they didn't even serve to children!

The people working here were dressed extremely fancy—especially the guests dining all around her—and the musicians singing and playing music on the stage were dressed for a ball. Luckily, Uno was quite happy that Quatre and Relena had taught her how to act like an important figure head and a proper lady; if she hadn't learnt that, she'd be killed already. The people working there also appeared different races. Some she recognized as French, others Italian; some Spanish, others Asian.

A Dutch waiter bent down towards Ricky with a bottle of red wine and with Ricky's approval, poured just a small sip into the wine glass. Ricky sniffed it as he wiggled it some, then took a sip and smirked. He nodded and faced the waiter.

"hm, deze is goed. Deze wijn smaakt goed" (_Yes, this one is good. This wine taste good_) Ricky communicated with the man while smiling back at Uno. Uno sat there with her mouth pressed firmly together so she won't gape and her eyes wanting to pop out of their sockets. Ricky knew Dutch!

The waiter poured him a glass of the wine and Uno directly afterwards. After he finished and put the wine bottle away in the ice bucket besides the table, he took out his pen and pad of paper and faced Ricky.

"Uno? You decide what you wanted?"

"Um…" Uno froze then remembered Ricky's only human like herself. "Order for me; I don't know Dutch."

Ricky smirked. "Alright Uno; just this once." He eyed her sarcastically. He turned to the waiter and ordered their meals. Uno just sat there, staring in total shock at the whole scene.

"Zij zal de stoofvleesschotel van gevogelte nemen en ik neem het vispannetje van het huis. ." _(She takes a stew of poultry and i take the fish dish)_ The waiter recorded the meals while nodding, took the menus and left the table.

"Ricky…you're excellent." Uno stated, still in shock Ricky only shrugged.

"Dad wanted me to learn Dutch, and some other languages."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Said I need to know it if I take over the business." He smirked. "I know Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Norwegian, German, Russian, and Thai."

Uno swallowed. "You-you do?" He nodded. "How fast did you learn all of this?"

"Don't forget, Uno," Ricky smirked. She blinked. "I'm three years older than you. To me, Dutch is a native tongue—same thing with Norwegian—I've leant those languages when I was little; started right around the time I met you."

"Are you serious?" He nodded again. She sighed and looked down to her plate. "I guess we _are_ tied then."

"Told you." He grinned sheepishly.

-

After the meal, Ricky was taking the long route to the parking lot through the courtyard and held Uno's hand in his arms. They walked slowly, talked softly and about little things, and enjoyed the night. Uno was falling in love with Ricky more and more by the second; she never knew he had this side to him…let alone, she never even knew _she_ had this side to herself!

When they got in the car, Ricky helped Uno in and shut the door afterwards. He got in and began the car. As they drove home, Uno was silent because she didn't know what to say or how to act anymore; were they through with the elegant and fancy dinner or not?

After they reached the mansion, Ricky told Uno he'd be right back and when he walked around the side of the car to let her out, she looked up and saw his hand extended to help her.

Uno smiled and accepted his offer, stood up with his help, and stepped forward so he could shut the door. He walked her to the front of the mansion slowly, all the while taking in the effect she had on him in the dress she wore; he'd spent all night long trying to sustain himself and be a proper gentleman but it wasn't easy when her body latched onto the dress so seductively. A few times during the meal he had to excuse himself to go to the restroom to wash his face with the rags offered; he had to cool himself off before he'd try and attack her—something he'd most definitely get his ass kicked for.

When they reached the door, she turned and faced him with a smile on her face—something he'd die for seeing.

"Thank you, Ricky. Tonight was…wonderful." Uno struggled to find the words; Ricky was looking at her seriously, as if he was tempted to lean over and forcefully kiss her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she wanted him to do whatever he wanted to happen, but she wouldn't say so; she was too scared. The fire in his eyes was burning her up as well and they both looked like fierce beasts in the moonlight under a beautiful darkened night sky.

"Goodnight Uno." It took Ricky several moments to find the courage to say those words to her.

"Goodnight Ricky." She replied, uneasily as well. Ricky was staring in her eyes, wanting to lean over and give her their first actual kiss, but he was choking big time. Instead, he shot his head away and headed towards the car. It wasn't the right thing to do, but he didn't think now was the time to kiss her—especially with Duo and Heero home.

Uno turned around and headed inside the house. She blinked when she opened the door and stepped in, seeing Duo's angry face and hard triumphs of struggling with little Quatre holding him back, his arms looped under Duo's shoulders. She blinked and shut the door behind herself without looking back at Ricky.

"Quatre, let me go!!!" Duo screamed out.

"No! Not until you promise me you won't go outside and attack Ricky!" Quatre strengthened his grasp on Duo.

Uno blinked. "What's going on?"

"Duo's been on edge since you left." Heero answered flatly. "He said Johnson called wondering if Ricky's Firebird was driving fine and he was alright. Duo asked where they were going and he said to the Luncheon Dinet, the most elegant restaurant in the entire country."

"Yeah…" Uno mumbled. Duo slouched, slumped, and fell out of Quatre's arms. Quatre sighed and fell back onto the couch exhausted.

"You mean he actually took you there?" Duo whined.

Uno nodded. Quatre smiled weakly. "How'd you do?"

"I was nervous…very…nervous." Uno stood still. "Ricky can speak Dutch…and several other languages I can't."

Duo blinked. "Really? Why?"

"He said his dad wants him to learn so when he takes over the family business, it'll help." Uno turned and headed towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed. Night Duochan."

Duo slumped over and sagged his body forward. He whined. "I can't believe he took her to that place."

-

The following day was quite basic. Duo worked half the morning and came home at around three. Heero studied more and more through the media with Relena's help. Relena was in dead shock when she saw her brother after several years; Noin nealy fainted. Une looked as if she were going to slap him for leaving in the middle of the night. Quatre and Trowa were trying out different cuisines from old cookbooks he found in the Victorian Library. Wufei actually took his day off and slept in; Sally came over to pull him out of bed and to the park for relaxation. Uno spent her day putting together different puzzles Ricky had Johnson make for her; damn those boys knew how to make a crazy design! She'd been trying at the same puzzle for four hours straight and had been getting no where and she had fourteen other puzzles to master afterwards!

She gave up and went downstairs for a break. Heero was exiting the hallway as she was just entering the staircase. The doorbell rang.

Heero opened the door and there stood Ricky, head down, very quiet; he didn't even say 'hey' as he always does to Heero.

"Uno home?" Ricky mumbled softly. Uno came up from behind Heero.

"Ricky?" She asked in a deep concerning voice. She stepped up to him and put a finger under his chin. She lifted his chin and found his face entirely soaked with tears: dry, wet, moistened and damp; everything.

"Ricky!" Uno shouted. Ricky wrapped his arms around Uno's waist immediately and dug his head into her neck. She wrapped her arms around his back and soothed him. He began crying again. Heero shut the door.

"Ricky?" Uno asked again.

"Johnson's dead." His muffled cry was still audible enough for Uno to understand. Her face went pale and she looked up at Heero with fear in her eyes. Heero looked down; this was happening again.

"Dad told me last night that, about three hours after I left to pick you up, Johnson and he had a fight and Johnson left to head to his girlfriend's." He took a minute to choke back a sob of tears. "He said around four in the morning, Johnson was found in his car dead, his girlfriend dead besides him as well. They had a car accident; it looked like it was a head on collision, a rear end impact, and a double sided hit."

Uno blinked and rubbed his back soothingly. Heero looked down in thought. It sounded as if it was a planned attack.

"Ricky," Heero began. "How did your father sound when he told you?"

"He sounded like he didn't care." Ricky sniffled and looked up from Uno's neck. Uno let him go and turned to face Heero, confusion settling in her eyes. "But they didn't like each other anyways. Johnson's always been protective over me and my dad never liked it. He said it wasn't Johnson's place to be as obsessive with me as he is; I'm taking over the family business and I need to learn to care for myself."

"When did he tell you what happened?"

"This morning, at around seven when I woke up." Uno blinked; Ricky woke up at seven a.m.?!

"How did he tell you?" Heero narrowed his eyes; Ricky's father could have had something to do with this accident.

"Like I said; like it meant nothing to him. He just shrugged it off and walked away; but then again, my dad hides his feelings a lot so you never know what's going on with him." Ricky's eyes couldn't hide the truth and another tear began to fall.

Heero nodded. "Go get some rest. If you need me, I'm in the Military Wing; if I'm not there ask the computer."

Ricky nodded and began heading upstairs towards Uno's room. Uno blinked back up at Heero. Heero kept his eyes on Ricky as Ricky went upstairs. He kept his voice low.

"Keep an eye on him; something's not right here. I think his father had something to do with his brother's death."


	29. Sad Closures

Duo's Child

Chapter 29

Once again, another year has passed and the pains got harder for Uno to live with. Johnson's funeral was a week after his death. Uno attended the funeral even though she hardly knew him and stayed by Ricky's side the whole time. She had met Ricky's father and immediately wanted to punch him, but seeing how close the both of them were together made her rethink her options. Ricky's father looked calm and alright as if nothing had happened, but he stayed by Ricky's side the entire time, rubbing his back and shoulders when Ricky couldn't stop crying and even soothed him. Uno felt it a major shock; after all, he used to hit the poor child! So because of that, she didn't say a single negative thing towards him.

That same day Ricky introduced Uno to meet his father properly and Uno did her best to be nice. He looked at her a little irritated, as if he were hiding something from the two of them, but told Ricky of how happy he was for his son. Uno was a tad confused; he looked at Ricky like there was something Ricky had forgotten. He looked at Ricky with the cooling eyes of an eagle nearing down on a rodent; as if he had needed to talk with his son about something important, something his son might have forgotten.

After the funeral had ended, Uno walked to the other side to get away from the crowd and visit Theresa's grave. Coping with her best friend's death was like learning to eat snails; it wasn't an easy task and out of all that she's got talent in, she couldn't grasp this one massive blow to the mind. There was just _something_ wrong about the whole thing. Somebody was out to get her and had killed her friend instead; but why hadn't they made the effort to attack again? Was there something about Theresa that she had to die for? Something _she_ knew that she shouldn't have known? Ricky had given Uno more comfort that day as when looking for it for himself. He found it in Uno as she found hers in him.

Still, months had gone on and the two of them had grown even closer than they were. Uno still didn't bring up the question of how his father had all the money to give him and Ricky kept shrugging it off. She knew he was hiding something, but didn't press the subject for fear that if she knew he would have to kill her; perhaps his father was a gangster—who knew?

Especially when her birthday was coming around again was she even more tempted to ask how he got all of his money. His gift to her was a promise ring; a promise that they would never be apart. She had loved the ring to death and never noticed until the following night, when she was thinking about him again and looking at it, that it was an awfully expensive ring; Duo would have taken nearly twelve paychecks to pay for something like that and still struggle to do so.

On Christmas Day, Duo had gone over to Hildie's early that morning. Nobody knew why but when he came home with her later that night to Quatre's mansion for a massive dinner party, he announced that they were engaged; he proposed to her that morning. Ricky was sitting besides Uno and grinning at her; Uno was feeling a little under the sun because he was, once again, looking at her with the intense look saying, 'if they weren't around, I would be.' Uno knew _exactly_ what he wanted and what he was thinking. She's only been calling him a perv for months on end because of it; he just never tried to make a move on her because he was a proper boy and also knew he'd get his ass kicked if he had—by her family _and_ her.

Now, another couple months after that, Uno was at the grave yard, sitting on Theresa's burial, staring at the grave stone. Tears have been streaming down her face for a while now; her bike sat untouched on the path. Her cell phone was off. She told nobody where she was going…but she didn't have to; they all knew anyways.

She sat hugging her knees lightly, not a care in the world about how much she's cried out. She needed her friend the most right now. They've grown up together a lot; Theresa can't just abandon Uno now, not when Uno's hitting the second hardest stage in her life.

"Theresa." Saying her name on her lips was like molding Jello into buttery substances; it wasn't easy without a hard struggle. "I wish you were here.

"A lot has gone on since you left. Ricky and I are even closer than before. Duo's engaged to Hildie." Uno smirked. "I found out Zechs fought with them in the past wars and went to be a teacher to kill off his identity. I guess he found something out that Heero knows and is trying to stay hidden. I don't know what it is; I asked Duo but even he doesn't know what it is. I'm meeting new people that knew my family in the past. All these people know each other; they all know my family and vise versa. I think they were all comrades from the wars.

I met Ricky's father, Mr. Tanners. He's not as bad as I thought. I used to think that, because Ricky got hit so much, his father should be in jail. But since Ricky's brother, Johnson, was killed I think it may have affected him. He didn't take it the way anyone else would have and I used to think he had something to do with it all, but I began thinking against it. All during the funeral, he kept his arms around Ricky and soothed him. I only held his hand then came alone to see you and get away from it all."

Uno sniffled. She heard a crackle behind her but didn't make an attempt to look back. She didn't care who it was. It was a grave yard after all, people came to visit graves.

"Why did you leave me, Theresa? Why did you leave me here all alone? I know I have Ricky, but that's not enough; you're my best friend. I love Ricky to death but I can't go to talk to him about everything; I can't talk to him about female topics that you and I could. I can't go shopping with him and try on clothes; you'd understand better than he does what matches and what doesn't, what's a good fabric that won't stain versus one that will. You see, I can't be with him _all_ the time. Yeah, I love him and he loves me, but it's not the same without my friend, without my monster-drawing friend who enjoyed putting classmates in those mouths she drew."

Uno smirked a little and allowed for more tears to fall. More crackling sounded and again, she didn't flinch. A sniffle made her turn her head around to see Ricky standing but eight feet away from her. She looked back to the grave and lowered her hear on to her arms.

"I sometimes wish it was me instead." Uno said softly. Ricky stared at her from behind. "That whoever was aiming at us, had hit me in place of her. Maybe she knew something that she shouldn't have known or maybe the assassin had missed." Uno paused and a few more tears fell. "I just wish it was me instead of her."

"Uno…" Ricky began but he couldn't finish. He was shaking inside and out; his fists were balled by his sides.

"I just miss her so much." Uno cried, laying her head on her arms while staring back at the grave stone."

"I…I'm so sorry." Ricky choked back and began to cry as well. He hung his head, unable to look up and face her, unable to remember all that had happened. He spun around and turned to run back to his car. Uno sniffled and looked back slowly to see him running back.

"Ricky…" She mumbled.

Ricky ran back to his car and got in. However, by the time he had he was already soaked in the face from his tears. This was too much for him: Johnson's death, Theresa's death, Uno's undying love for him, his work; they were so stressful on him right now that he didn't know what he could do, if he could anything anymore. There was one thing he knew, though, and that was he had to be there for Uno; he had to be there for Uno in every way, especially the way that was most important to him right then: getting his work done.

-

Uno came home about half an hour after that happened. When she came in, Quatre was passing by her with two big boxes in his arms. He paused and smiled and asked for her help. Uno chuckled with a smirk and accepted it; they all knew she was at the grave yard.

"What's in these?" Uno asked, struggling to hold them up. When they passed by the living room, she saw Zechs, Noin, Une, and Wufei all sitting around discussing stuff. Uno looked at them and followed Quatre out into the hallway.

"Papers Heero's asked me to take a look at. I'm not so sure what though, but he said he found them in the Military Wing shoved underneath a filing cabinet."

Uno followed Quatre to his office and set the box on the table following the first one. She opened them up and found a few leather bounded books; Quatre found a stack of papers. They scanned through them and she found out the books were diaries and ledgers, dated back to when the house was a thought to when the man gave it to Quatre's dad; there were a lot of books. Quatre found the data papers were information recorded from doing human experiments and other things similar; he almost threw up at what they did.

"I don't even think Duo will like these." Quatre handed them over to Uno. Uno blinked and looked at them, handing Quatre the books. "These are journals from the people who lived and worked here. Where were they hiding?"

"In the top of a secret closet Heero found." Quatre began looking through the books. "This'll be fun to read." He smiled. Uno put the papers in the box with the rest of the papers and lifted up the box. Quatre blinked at her.

"I wanna' see what they did." Uno pouted. "Can't I?"

Quatre smiled. "Sure, go ahead. You'll probably get a better reaction out of them than I will."

Uno left and headed the long way around up to her room. She had another date with Ricky that night and she didn't want to be all entirely drowsy looking; she had to shower, get dressed, and prepare herself. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere fancy as it was a year ago; they were just going to the movies.

But first she wanted to read what the papers were about and sat down at her desk with them.

-

About an hour later, Uno had to put them back in the box and close the lid. Combining humans with animals? Genetic splices? Inserting chemicals into made-up species? These people were drastically trying to create something evil!

Uno shook her head and looked at the clock. She had two hours until he'd come pick her up and he was going to come early because he had to stop by his work to do something. Uno didn't mind; she finally got to see what he does to make the money he makes. Since she's turned fourteen, Duo finally gave her a little more slack and began to trust Ricky more. Well, now was the night Duo was going to get corrected or proved right; they were going to be alone in a movie theater.

-

Ricky was zooming past people on the road and cutting off slow drivers. Uno didn't get frightened at all when he looked like he was about to tip them off the highway; she does the same things and worse when on her bike. Ricky at least is in a car; Uno drives between two cars and speeds up to a fatal amount. She just can't ever tell Duo how dangerous she is or even that she takes the highways; he'll have a cow.

"Ricky…where is your job?" Uno asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Down south, about twelve miles from here. Not far; why?"

Uno shrugged. "We've driven a long time."

"It's a long ways. There are times I stay the night over there because I have to work so much and so hard, I don't want to try driving home at night." Ricky looked through his mirrors and cut off the traffic and went off the exit ramp. "But we're not going there right now."

"Where are we going then?" Uno looked around; they were at a strip center.

"I need to meet somebody. You can come out if you want or stay in the car." He pulled into a parking lot. "Up to you."

"Okay; I'll stay."

Ricky nodded. "Suit yourself."

When he pulled up to a parking spot, a black car pulled up to their left. Uno blinked and saw a second pull up to their right and one stop just behind them. Blinking in thought, she turned around and looked around them.

"We're surrounded—why are we surrounded?" She asked in a panic.

"Chill," he said as he unhooked his seat belt. "I'll be right back." He leant over and gave Uno a slight kiss on her cheek before getting out of the car.

Uno blinked and watched in a slight bit of fear as Ricky adjusted his shirt and walked to the front of the car. Three other men—much older than him—stepped up to him. There were all dressed in pressed black suits with black leather gloves on their hands. Ricky just wore a black sweater with black jeans again.

"Does Daniel know about her?" One of the men—the one with slick-back black hair—nodded towards Ricky's Firebird in Uno's direction.

"Not another word or I'll have you fired." Ricky growled. "Now give me what I asked for."

"Here, but just so you know the files aren't all there." Another man, with slick blonde hair, stated. "We had trouble just getting these."

Ricky took the small memory stick for a heavy duty computer system and pocketed it. "You'll get your reward later; my father will see to it." He growled. "Now back down from your current location; I have things covered."

"Are you sure? You failed before." A brown haired man said with a grin.

"Leave or I'll kill you myself!" Ricky fumed. They all nodded and turned to leave. Ricky returned to the car and got in. He buckled up his seat belt, keeping his head down in thought.

Uno stayed quiet and felt a little frightened; she had never seen this part of Ricky before. He can be so determined and demanding; it scared her.

"What's wrong with you?" Ricky asked as he started up the car again. The three black cars backed out and drove off, leaving them alone once more. Uno blinked and made up a lie—well, sort of was a lie.

"Just thinking about some papers Heero found in the Military Wing."

Ricky smirked over at her. "Porno?" He backed out the car and drove off back towards the theaters.

Uno quirked her eye brows and growled at him. "My, you are one such perverted boy!"

Ricky laughed out loud. "Duh!" He smiled. Uno rolled her eyes.

"No…they're old data papers from when the mansion was in its prime state." She explained. "They were mostly from the Technology Wing."

"What's it of?" Ricky took the back roads towards the theater rather then get on the freeway.

"Well…it seems like they were trying to invent several new species. They mixed human genetics with animal genetics; there were genetic splices done. They even tried inserting chemicals and other things into the human body. None of the subjects survived so the whole experiment was a total waste."

"You got the papers with you?" Ricky questions.

"Yeah, why?"

"Let me see them."

Uno nodded and took out some of them from her purse. Ricky looked them over as he drove down a back street. He paused at a stop sign and sat there, reading through them. Uno looked around at all the older houses sitting around the lots. They were in some sort of low class, poor society neighborhood.

"Amazing." Ricky smirked and nodded with a small chuckle. "Simply amazing."

"Huh?" Uno blinked.

"Is this all of them?" He sifted through some of the folded papers to read the others. "Or are there more?"

"That's mostly it. There's an entire box of it all but they were of the failed experiments. Those were the plans."

"They didn't work?" Ricky looked at the last pages.

Uno shook her head. "No; there were over thousands of them and all had 'failed' stamped across it."

Ricky nodded again. "Mind if I keep these?" He looked at her. "At least for a little while? I want to take a closer read to them and find out what they were doing, the chemicals and stuff."

Uno shrugged. "Okay."

Ricky pulled out a black folder from behind his seat and stuffed them in without letting Uno see what was inside. She blinked and he smirked at her, putting the folder back in the pocket behind his seat.

"Nothing; just stuff for work." He sat his hands on the steering wheel and paused before putting the gears from neutral to first. He looked over at her with a smile on his face. Uno slowly looked over at him with confusion written in her eyes; he's never looked at her that way before.

"Ricky?" Uno mumbled.

"You're very pretty today, Uno." He flashed his adorable eyes at her slowly and it drove Uno's senses mad. She smiled and blushed a little.

"Thanks…" She tried to ignore him, but his intense gaze was just too strong to pry away from. She tried to close her eyes; unfortunately, it only welcomed his face closers to hers. His eyes closed and her head tilted back and before she knew it, she was feeling his lips on hers, feeling his saliva enter her mouth and greet her tongue. The sensation was magnificent; it was something she's never felt before, in all her life. It was definitely something worth keeping record of: her very first kiss.

When he pulled slightly back she found she was not in Heaven anymore. Her eyes opened slowly to reveal a layer of haziness and a dizzy state. Ricky was staring down at her lips, his own quivering with anticipation to kiss her again and fear for going further than he ever intended. He loved Uno a lot but, being a male with an ego was hard to tell a woman his feelings. Instead of saying another word, he slightly planted another, soft kiss upon her lips before pulling back all the way to sit in the seat properly.

Uno's breath was still searching for her lungs. His kiss had stolen more than just the air from her body; it had stolen her heart completely. She had never kissed a guy in all her life, and this was the first time. Was this what it felt to be in Heaven? Was it bliss that Ricky had hinted at in his kiss? She didn't know anything but one thing and one thing only: she wished he would kiss her again like he had just done, even _if_ it'll cost him his life; she'd most definitely fight to keep him alive.

Ricky was about to shift into first gear before he realized he had forgotten something. He turned and smiled back at Uno the way he always smiled when he had a surprise for her.

"What?" She blinked, still the awareness of his kiss fading through her blood.

"I've got something for ya'." He leaned over and opened the glove department, soon reaching in and pulling out a jewel case. As soon as he closed the door he dropped it in her lap and shifted gears, all in one fast motion. Blinking down at it, Uno lifted it up and a big smile came to her face.

"Ricky! Are you serious?!" Uno stared at the cover of the jewel case and darted her gaze over to his face. He only nodded with his big grin plastered onto his face.

"I didn't want Duo to tell you that I came over the other week, but I stayed in the Rec Room for quite a while making that thing. There's only that one song on there, but…" Ricky shrugged. "I dunno'; call it a hunch but I think that, after making that song, I've got what it takes."

She read the title before turning back to face him. "Behind Blue Eyes… did you sing it?" He nodded. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah; I did my best with all the instruments being played by only one person… I mean, I had to play the guitar, sing, do the drums, the electronics, finally tie it all together and that's all I got done; my dad loved it so much—my talent, though—he said he sent it out as my single. At this rate, I'll be in the music industry in no time flat. Don't cha' think?" He smiled over at her before he turned a corner again and entered into the parking lot of the theater.

-

"So you assume somebody is out to get her?" Une asked; Duo nodded.

"I don't know who, but…Theresa was shot and killed and Uno was besides her. I can't say for certain that it's Uno, but why else would an assassin shoot Theresa? Lori and Bill didn't know anything and Theresa was just a kid; it's Uno who knows the whole ordeal." Duo explained.

"Then what do you suppose is the plan?" Sally asked, leaning forward. "Somebody's out to get somebody; who would it be?"

Duo bit his bottom lip in thought. "I don't know."

"Duo and I interrogated the assassin who tried to kill me a few years back; he made us think but none of it could have been true. There isn't a military aid out there." Heero stated flatly. "Unless they're talking about Nopsis, the program designed to protect the machines that carry them out." He paused and shook his head. "But they've sworn to protect Relena and she's in safe condition. They even handed over their program when the Government brought them to question; they wouldn't be part of this."

"I still don't get all that's going on." Trowa quirked his eyebrows in thought. "None of this is making any sense."

"What, really, is Nopsis?" Duo had asked.

"Nopsis is a Government agency designed to fix and repair the machines that carry around the important figureheads. It repairs and keeps daily checkups on shuttles and other air crafts; it does the same to vehicles. I never understood why they couldn't expand into everyday use for the people." Sally explained.

"Oh…so that explains why they were talking with Relena a few weeks back." Duo nodded in thought.

"They had new designs and needed her approval before sending them out to the colonies. They're updating the colonies' outer protection devices and programs." Zechs added in.

Quatre entered the room. "This is one historical mansion." He sat down smirking. "You wouldn't believe the things this house has a history of."

"I can take a guess." Wufei grumbled. He looked away.

Duo laughed. "Wufei got booted; hah hah!" He joked.

"So what did y'all come up with?" Quatre asked, leaning forward. Everyone important except Relena were in his living room.

"Somehow inside information has been getting out. We don't know who can get that close to us, but somebody is." Heero replied staring down at the floor. "Somebody knows how to get close to us; knows what to do and say." His eyebrows quirked in thought and he leant on his closed fists, thinking even deeper than before.

-

The movie ended and Uno still busy laughing. The movie was a traumatic drama set but she was laughing at Ricky; he had tripped exiting the theater and almost landed on top of 'Big Bubba', some guy who resembled a man's worst fears. Ricky was grumbling, holding Uno's hand tightly and gripping firmly to try and shut her up, but stumbling into some big gay-looking man had caused her to crack up.

"Uno," Ricky growled. "Silence woman!"

Uno tried but couldn't stop laughing. "I'm sorry…" She laughed more. "But…it's…just so funny…to see…that." She giggled, covering her mouth.

Ricky rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. "I swear, one of these days you're going to trip onto some dominatrix girl and I'm gonna' bust my ass off laughing at you."

"No, you won't," she paused for softer giggles. "Because when that girl starts touching me, you're going to get mad." Ricky turned to her and tried to glare but failed miserably. Uno was just so adorable when she was laughing. He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around her, bringing him closer to her body.

"Come here you." He grumbled.

They walked together out of the theater and started to walk down the sidewalk towards the parking lot of the street; each street had a parking lot—this was the popular section of town considering each street was littered with shopping stores and the likes.

"Uno…I need to talk with you." His tone got soft and he began breathing a bit heavy. Uno looked up at him, the laughter dead in her eyes.

"Hm?" She smiled. He looked down at her smile and his heart began beating even faster. He had to do this eventually and now was the best time.

"I…" He paused, looking around and noticing the people. He sighed and took her hand as he began walking into the back of an alley.

"There's too many people around."

Uno blinked, her heart pounding massively inside her chest. He needed to talk to her about something really important and the only thing she could think of was their relationship. She didn't want to break up with him; she also knew he didn't want to either. The only other assumption she could come up with was his proposal of wanting to be steady.

-

"But who?" Quatre asked to no one in particular. "Who could be the person knowing what goes on?"

"If there's even crap that goes on." Duo mumbled sarcastically. "Seriously, all there is to know is Uno. We haven't done anything. Those scientists are still alive—unfortunately—but they haven't done anything; they want Uno!" Duo lifted his arm and stretched out his hand to the hallway and front door. "All there is to know about is Uno and what much is that?" He growled out loud.

"Wait a second," Zechs began, looking down in a sudden deep thought. Everyone else looked at him. "Whoever killed Theresa was meant to kill Uno; why else were they hiding out in the bushes down the street from here? They wouldn't know if Theresa was going to head over to see Uno that morning."

"Yeah, it was a last minute notice. I opened the door and saw her big shining eyes smiling up at me." Quatre stated, feeling a sense of sadness in his own voice.

"So somebody knows Uno enough to know she walks to school most of the time; at least when she's with Theresa." Duo added in.

"But even then, they didn't plan on Theresa being there; they planned on Uno leaving the house." Zechs finished. "Uno hardly had any friends. People always tried to fight with her but Theresa would insult them to the point of nothing and Ricky would fight by her side."

"Those were her only friends." Duo said softly, looking down.

Quatre's eyes shot out big. "Oh my goodness!" He shouted. Everyone looked at him. "I totally forgot!"

"What?" Duo asked, turning around entirely to face him; he was sitting on the floor by the table and Quatre was on the loveseat behind him next to the wall.

"When I put Uno to sleep that day, after Theresa was shot, I asked her what happened. She didn't answer me much but she said they were just talking as they usually do."

"Go on." Duo nodded.

"I asked her what they were talking about and she said she forgot, but she remembered the last thing she said was stating how Theresa and Ricky were Uno's _only_ friends."

"You don't suppose…" Wufei's voice trailed off.

"Davison knew who we were talking about." Heero said with a bad taste in his mouth. "I didn't want to believe it…but I think it's true."

"Heero?" Quatre blinked.

"What are you talking about?" Sally questioned.

"Heero, tell us what you know." Heero and Duo were staring at each other, determination frozen in both their eyes. Duo had more shock written on his face while Heero still sat his chin on his fists.

"You're…you're serious." Duo's mouth slowly gaped open and his eyes slowly enlarged when Heero nodded lightly.

"Ricky Tanners works for Synodd with his father, one of the council men." Heero explained what he pulled together over the tears they've known Ricky. "I've done my share of research and nothing can be found about them on the net except that Ricky works on the same level as his father, only another branch. Daniel works for the militia section; Ricky for the science department. However, he still does work for his father and the rest of the council."

"You've got to be kidding!" Quatre exclaimed. Heero only shook his head. "Ricky? The little boy we knew as he grew up? The same one that looks—and still looks—much like you?" Heero nodded.

Zechs kept his head down and his voice low. "He missed and hit Theresa."

"His task was to kill Uno." Une stated.

Everyone looked over to Duo. Duo's face had fear creeping all over it and his heart was no longer even _in_ his chest. His face was pale white and his eyes looked glazed over.

"Duo?" Quatre leant forward. Duo slowly turned to look at Heero.

"He's still gotta' do that…" Duo trailed off. Heero nodded.

"Uno!" Duo rolled over and got to his feet immediately. "No!"

Heero jumped to his feet and started after him but Duo was already out the door with Uno's spare bike key in hand.

"Heero!" Heero skid to a stop and looked back. Wufei flung him his keys. "Take my bike."

-

"Ricky?" Uno tilted her head some with a questionable look on her face. "What's wrong?"

Ricky wasn't looking at her; instead, he was looking off and to the side. "Uno…I…"

He sighed. He _had_ to do this!

"Ricky?" She smiled caringly. "Whatever it is, tell me."

Ricky shut his eyes and pulled something out from behind him. He lifted it up and Uno froze looking at it. He stood five feet away from her, his arm up in the air, and a gun in his hands aiming at her face.

"Ricky?" She mumbled his name, confusion sweeping across her eyes.

"It wasn't supposed to go this far. It should have been done years ago, but I could never go through with it." His voice was serious and back to the frightening tone she heard earlier with the men from before. Her face was wiped clean of all emotion and she just stood there, serious as he was.

"You killed Theresa; didn't you?" She asked seriously, staring into his eyes.

"I wasn't supposed to, but damn it," Ricky growled. "You had to fucking say those things! Didn't you!" Ricky's breath was shaky.

"It was only supposed to be you, a quick pull and I was out of there in no time."

"Ricky…" Uno mumbled again.

"Synodd has paid me a hefty price to take you down myself; my father assigned me when I was eight-years-old. He signed me into your school so I could stalk you and learn about you and assassinate you when I gained enough information. When they found out about you being the five ex Gundam pilot's child, the pace sped up and I was forced to kill you sooner than planned." Ricky paused, trying not to let Uno's stare affect him. "For years, my father has trained me in ways you wouldn't understand. You always thought he abused me but he never had; the cuts, the bruises, the beatings—they were all from the Synodd Training Department. I was assigned the job from the very beginning to eliminate you; they trained me professionally. They trained me in the art of all you see me as today. Those obstacle courses you told me about that Heero had you do… I've completed the different sets when I was eleven."

"But…Ricky…" Uno mumbled again.

"I have been working for Synodd for a little over eleven years now, since they were just beginning and nothing but a whisper in their minds. Well, now it's a full process of attraction. Synodd's got several branches set out and determined to pull through and you're the only one in the way." Ricky growled.

"What about my family? And Zechs?" Uno took a deep breath.

"They are all too old to fight and even then, the ideas Synodd has they can't compete against. The wars we want to achieve are far greater in technology than they had almost twenty years ago." Ricky paused again to take another deep breath but he was still shaking badly. "As I said, I've worked for them for over eleven years now. The paychecks I get are enough to probably pay off half your mansion. With one check I was able to afford that restaurant. My father had taken my past two checks before that and held it for interest for my car. He told me after Johnson's funeral that I have to be stronger than I am or else I won't get things done and I won't get paid again." His voice lowered to an angry growl. "He said he wasn't happy to see you still standing."

"Ricky…" Uno mumbled his name once again.

"So this is it. I'm not going to miss now, even if I have to shoot you in point blank range." Ricky narrow his eyes, determined to pull off the shot. Uno just stood there, amazingly not afraid, staring dead into his eyes.

"Ricky…" She mumbled his name again. "Ricky, if you loved me…you wouldn't do this."

The gun started to quiver some and Ricky kept his determined look on her face. His lips were pressed firmly together into a thin line. He looked dead into her eyes.

All he had to do was pull the trigger.

All had had to do was put a clear shot into her head.

All he had to do was kill her.

But suddenly, the gun fell back to his side and he was breathing heavily, each breath jagged and harsh, filled with tremors. She didn't blink; she didn't question. She just stood there as she had been, staring back into his eyes.

He lifted the gun back up again and brought it to his head.

"God damn it, Uno." Ricky choked. Several tears fell heavily from his eyes and they didn't stop coming.

One minute, Uno was standing in front of her beloved boyfriend, her undying love for him, the next she was staring into the eyes of a blood covered wound, gaping into the side of his head. Ricky had shot himself for his failing attempts and the effect of it all carried through to their surroundings. His blood splattered across the brick walls of the alley and on the concrete below. The bullet flew right through his skull and came out the other side; the wall to her right is what stopped it. His body fell backwards into the bloody puddle that formed around his feet. The gun fell out of his hands and dropped to the ground below.

Uno had not moved one second while she watched him from the moment he cried her name to the second he pulled the trigger and fell dead before her very eyes.

"Uno!" Duo's voice rang out in the air around her like a beacon in a shadowy cave.

He spun the corner and ran towards Uno, skidding to a halt when he saw all the blood around them. He stepped up softly to the scene and slowly turned to look at Uno. Her face was stained with tears and they didn't stop coming. She stood firm and continued staring down at his body, at his bloody face, at his eyes.

Heero was the next one to spin around the corner and he, too, froze the moment he saw all the blood. If he was even several feet away from the alley he would have been able to _smell_ the stench of blood, but he wasn't expecting it to be so suddenly. He looked at Uno and noticed her drenched face. He looked back down at the dead body of Ricky and slowly stepped up to it. He knelt down besides it and looked back up to Uno. Pain struck his own heart. He had actually _liked_ having Ricky around; it was like he had a fan club of his own.

"Uno?" Duo's soft and gentle voice tried to reach her but it was no use. His hands were gently pressed on her shoulders and he covered her sight of Ricky's dead eyes, but she wasn't really even looking at all; she was dazing out now that the imprint of his eyes were set firmly in her memory forever.

"He loved me." Uno said softly, almost as a mumble. "He loved me and he had to kill himself because of it, because he couldn't kill me."

"Uno…sweetie…" Duo wrapped his arms around Uno's but she still stood firmly in place, her eyes draining of an endless amount of water. Heero continued kneeling besides the body, watching Uno's silent crying and slowly lowered his head to the body.

All this had happened because Ricky had loved Uno too much to go through with it… the same thing that had saved her in place of Theresa.

**_Note to Readers_**_: Go ahead…say how much you hate me because he died. Believe me, I didn't want it to end this way but in order for Uno to understand how bad war is, there _has_ to be bloodshed. Look at it this way…think of what she runs on to keep her moving to fight. I couldn't change it, as much as all of you out there were hoping, because I've been writing this fic for four years now and the entire outline had already been finished for one year; the beginning of the sequel had already been completed a year ago as well. Please understand that I loved Ricky a whole lot and may bring him back in another fic, eventually…maybe…if I can find one for him. Heck, I may stick him and Uno in something entirely different, yet still mixed with Gundam Wing! ::Shrugs:: Stay tuned for more._

_**AN:** I will try and get the following chapter out as fast as I can.  My classes are ending in three weeks and everything is getting hectic and from when I used to post this story on my other account, I don't even have half of the next chapter written.  Please, bare with me; I'm writing this, my AVP fic, and the layout for my book all at the same time.  I'll try and get this sent out as fast as possible._


	30. Destruction Point

Duo's Child

Chapter 30

"Heero, I" Relena was cut off by Heero, the fourth time that night.

"Relena; it isn't safe for you to stay in your mansion." Heero held both of Relena's hands within his grasp and gripped firmly. For the past two months the security of the area had been losing more and more people; their enemies were locking on, stalking, taking target to their points, and preparing for the kill.

"If you stay with Une, she will take care of things. She commanded Oz, she commanded the Preventers; she can command the defenses of you and your stat; trust me, Relena." Heero bore his eyes into hers, telling her that all will be well.

"Heero…" her voice trailed off as he neared her for their goodnight's kiss.

-

"Good evening, Miss Mareimaia." Dorothy knocked on the door to the young twenty-year-old's door. "I was told to escort you to the safe house in the woods or to remain by your side as a body guard; your choice, of course."

Mareimaia stepped up to the door and curtsied. "How is Relena doing, Dorothy? I hear they're taking security even tighter than before."

"Yes; Heero has released an official announcement to the entire staff of the mansion to be on the look out at all times. He wishes to assign snipers at every angel of the premises, but she won't allow for that to happen."

"Well why should it?" Mareimaia turned and began walking to the window. "After all, Relena trusts that Heero will make the right decision and she knows he will do all that he can to protect her, even if it means to kill her in the process." Mareimaia looked down and held both her hands together at her chest, remembering that fateful night where she had come close to dying.

"You are not afraid?" Dorothy tilted her head some.

"No." Mareimaia turned around and smiled. "If you think it's wise, I would like to stay in my own mansion."

Dorothy nodded and curtsied. "Very well, Miss Mareimaia; I will remain by your side as a bodyguard. I won't let anything happen to you; I assure you."

-

"Hildie, stop…" Duo's mouth was covered by hers once again. "We gotta' stop."

Hildie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer as he tried to push away. Her inner moans and groans rose up and stirred him back to life, back to the way he had felt during the movie they had just watched on the couch, the movie _she_ had watched when _he_ was 'alive.'

"Duo…" His name was a murmur on her lips and Duo wrapped his arms around her back. He knew they had to stop and discuss what they were going to do about her safety, but she was so damn persistent and he was such a horn dog!

-

Une hung up the phone with Zechs and sat back in the chair of her executive desk while her outstretched arms rose above her head to cover her eyes. A low groan escaped her lips as she released a heavy sigh. She relaxed and looked back down at the phone.

All day she had spent on the telephone making phone calls to the mayor and reporting the whereabouts of her crew; the whereabouts of where the crew was found…dead.

Somebody was out to kill them off, one by one, very slowly. Already, several members from the wars had already been killed off or went missing. A few of the decent ranking soldiers have been reported missing for the past few months; all their belongings and valuables have disappeared around the same time.

So much had been going on around her. She had met with Uno again and discussed what the plans where; the little girl knew so much for her age, but cared so little. It was as if she was waiting for something drastic to happen, to tell her that she had no other choice but to fight.

She had spoken to Heero and Duo about the scientists and their needs for shelter of the new mobile suits. Heero told her that they would only need to make one; that they were not going to fight, that Uno was going alone into the war. Une didn't agree with it one bit, but knowing Heero, she knew he had his motives.

She had told him to send word to the two scientists that if they needed a place for anything, tools, or machinery, to name it and they will have it; she had given them an old ware house in the midst of the downtown of the city, deep underground, only accessible through high security methods; Uno's new fake ID, for when she'll need it, will be an official Governmental Program—an assassin.

The Preventers pay will surely be lowered this month, but she wouldn't mind; she wasn't even sure if they would still be alive within the next few days.

-

Quatre sighed when he sifted through papers of the news at his desk. Trowa was sitting in the chair across from him as was Wufei and Sally. His lips were pulled into a tight thin line and he was slowly shaking his head as he scanned the headlines.

"No…I don't see anything about the whereabouts of the Tanner incident." Quatre stated. He pushed the recent paper aside and took out the few past weeks set where Ricky's body was reported found.

"All I've ever seen is the body of a dead young boy, a severe hole in his head, and half the alley destroyed."

"You mean stained." Wufei corrected. "All Heero said he had done is put a hole in the wall because the bullet went straight through his head. His blood splattered across everything." Wufei's blunt way of talking put Quatre in a sickened mind frame.

"But either way, it doesn't say anything about if they found the parents, where the boy was buried; nothing. It's like it was news and just suddenly disappeared." Quatre began in deep thought.

"Perhaps it had." Trowa mentioned, as-a-matter-of-fact.

"I even checked out the morgues. Nobody by the name of Ricky Tanners had even checked in; it was as if the whole thing was a staged attack and the players took their cards and ran." Sally spoke up. "Perhaps Daniel Tanners got there before anything else could be done and took care of it all. Where did it say Johnson was buried?"

Quatre sat back in his chair. "Same cemetery as Theresa." His eyebrows quirked. "But we checked all over there and didn't see a fresh grave."

"Then Daniel's trying to hide something." Trowa reported.

"What happened to his car?" Wufei asked. Trowa stood up and began slowly pacing the office floors.

"I think Daniel took that too." Quatre questioned. "Ricky said he had paid for it, but out of _his_ own money—Ricky's—not Daniel's. Maybe he wanted to do something with it."

"Or check it for clues and items Ricky had picked up that day." Wufei replied; thoughts came fast to Trowa, who froze in spot and snapped his head over to the rest of the group.

"Uno let him borrow the data papers of the Technology Department; the science papers of the chemistry."

"You mean the fail attempts for biohazard weapons and creatures?" Sally turned and faced him with confusion.

"That…yes…what if Synodd will try it and actually succeed?" Trowa mentioned. Everyone looked away in thought. "Who's to say Uno may really _need_ our help in the future?"

-

Uno was sitting at the piano in the Music Room of the Classical Wing. Heero was leaning against the door frame, watching her; he had been watching her since Ricky had died. She never really smiled except a fake look or a pleasant greeting to guest. For the past month and more, she'd been crying constantly and feeling very stressed out. He knew it would be bad to send her to Doctor J like this, but it had to be done; he just wished he didn't have to because somebody like her couldn't be stuck in a closet to lose all her human emotions for hours on end.

It would kill a girl at fourteen.

Uno began to play the piano and swiftly move her fingers across the keys. Music came, but it didn't register in her mind. She was just way too depressed to even think. Heero kept his attention focused on her as he had for the past several weeks. The moment they found Uno drained in the alley up to now he's been close by; no doubt Daniel's going to set up ways to tear her down, it's only a matter of time until he strikes out. But until then, he wasn't going to let _anyone_ get close to her.

Heero wouldn't mind standing besides her during their next war, but he had a strong feeling he wouldn't be around to witness it. After all, they knew that Uno was bred from them; for all he knew, they could be plotting revenge because Ricky had killed himself over her.

Uno's sweet voice began to slowly hum the tunes to the song, warming up her throat and getting ready to sing. She's kept to herself since the incident and Heero had never heard anything so depressing sounding from her music. He hung his head, the music digging it's own sad song into his memory.

_Powder Snow is by Ayumi Hamasaki; English translations is in parenthesis_

"Mou hitori kiri ni shite oite hoshii no (I want to be left alone.)   
dare mo watashi o shiranu basho e nigetai no (I want to escape to a place where no one knows me.)   
sonna koto machigatte iru to semerareyou to kore ijou (That I'm wrong about that, that it's my fault,)   
kokoro ga mou motanai ashita wa iranai no (is all my heart has. I don't need tomorrow.)

nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai (Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.)   
ima nara shiroi yukitachi ga nagashite keshite kureru deshou (The white snow flows and muffles my tears.)   
nee tasukete (Please help me.)

-

"Wufei…" Sally's urgent voice never faltered from the notice in her tone. She kept her head at the back of the car while loading her gun, cursing herself for not keeping it already loaded. "They're gaining on us!"

Wufei growled as he sped up, the wheels of the car only spinning wildly as the slick roads tossed them around the corners. For a matter of minutes, they've been followed by these huge black vans and struck from all sides. They knew it all belonged to Synodd and Daniel's men.

"Damn it! Can't these people play it the right way and wait until we get out of the car?!" He screamed. Running a red light and signaling a cop to start their car's engine, Wufei turned a corner and fishtailed before picking up speed.

"Here they come!" Sally's voice ended in a high pitch as the back end of their car played sport in a game of bumper cars. Sally and Wufei screamed as the impact flung them at a higher pace and into another black van that came out of no where from the corner in front of them. Both of them flew forwards, thankful their seat belts saved them from flying out of the window, and coughed for air. Sally's whine lasted longer than Wufei's and blood began to drip out of the corners of her mouth. Wufei's head was throbbing when he pulled back and there was a massive bruise on his forehead.

"What in the Hell?" He murmered as his hand came up to his face to feel the bump.

-   
sou koukai nado hitotsu mo shite nai no (I don't have even one regret.)   
itsu mo donna toki mo ima o ikite kita (I've always been living in the present)   
omokage mo ashiato sae nani hitotsu nokoranai kurai (So that I don't leave even a single trace or footprint,)   
rousoku ga tokete kono akari kietara (The candle melts down, this light is extinguished.)

-

"I tried to contact him but their line is busy," Une was standing behind the desk of Relena's office as Relena was standing in the center of the room, her fists clutched to her chest. "I'm thinking that it may have been cut somehow."

"Impossible; this entire mansion is a safe hazard from things such as that! Have you tried the other lines?" Relena darted around her gaze to think. Uno lowered her head as a pout reached her face. Relena needed Heero badly for the last half hour but there was no way to get to him. Their computers were down, their phones were cut, and they've been hiding in the office from invaders who have been shooting out all their guards. All that they had left to kill were Une and Relena.

A loud bang against the heavily, locked office door had startled both women and Relena spun around on her heels with a loud shriek.

-   
oogoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai (Can I scream at the top of my lungs? Until my voice withers away.)   
ima nara shiroi yukitachi mo subete yurushite kureru deshou (The white snow will forgive me for everything.)   
nee onegai (Please.)   
ryoute hirogete kagayaku yuki atsumetai dake na no ni ne (I spread my arms wide. I just want to gather the shining snow.)   
doushite... hakanai... (But why? It's so fleeting...)

-

Wufei groaned when he pulled his hand back away from his face and saw all the fresh blood on his fingers. Sally was breathing heavy, herself, and the both of them could definitely use a new plan of action. Sally winced as she tried to move her arms around to her sides and release her safety button, but her right arm felt broken and her left was stuck as is. She groaned and a whimper emerged from her lips.

To Wufei's right, several men with their guns pointed out at them charged up towards the window. He winced and looked over at them; Sally looked at her right where a few more were headed too.

'Wufei…" Sally moaned.

"What in the…?" Wufei's slowly glared as the men pointed at the window. Suddenly, a shot was fired and within moments, the car had exploded.

-

nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai (Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.)   
ima nara shiroi yukitachi ga nagashite keshite kureru deshou (The white snow flows and muffles my tears.)   
oogoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai (Can I scream at the top of my lungs? Until my voice withers away.)   
ima nara shiroi yuki tachi mo subete yurushite kureru deshou (The white snow will forgive me for everything.)

nakitai dake naite mo ii? namida karete shimau kurai (Can I cry as much as I want to? Until my tears wither away.)   
oogoe de sakende mo ii? koe ga karete shimau kurai (Can I shout loudly? Until my voice withers away.)   
nakitai dake naite mo ii? (Can I cry as much as I want to?)

-

Une had pulled Relena back behind her forcefully and withdrew her gun. She lifted it up and aimed it at the door of the office, awaiting for the invaders to enter upon her premises. Relena pressed her back against the wall, her lower lip a chew toy for her fright.

"Come on, you fucks!" Une shouted. "We're right here!"

The door busted open and Une immediately began firing away. About a dozen men dressed in black came running in and falling with bullet holes in their bodies, but Une ran out of bullets fast and they still had a dozen men ready to kill. Une continued to click the chambers, ignoring that the clips were empty until a bullet at pierced her right shoulder, getting her in place of Relena's heart.

Relena shot away from Une and tried to run for their secret door, hidden behind a tapestry of her family and through a long, narrow, winding hallway. One of the men ran in front of her and chuckled.

"Come on, Pretty Girl; let's dance!" He stood in a stanza that a football player would have.

Relena brought out her foot and kicked him in the nuts hard, causing him to groan and crouch down. Une had dropped the gun and grabbed at her wound; when she lifted her face from its lowered position, she stared directly into the barrel of a gun and immediately lost all sight of anything more after that moment. Relena used this second of silence to make a run for it between the tapestry and down the winding hallway, taking the correct paths in the human-sized maze.

-   
oogoe de sakende mo ii? (Can I scream at the top of my lungs?)

-

The black vans had disappeared soon after the explosion had hit and all there were left standing, besides the burning car with Wufei Chang and Sally Po still inside, were a few bewildered police men, arriving at the scene and expecting to see the speeding vehicle pummeled into a brick wall.

-

Relena finally made it outside of the mansion and began running towards the street where the busiest of all roads in that part of the city were. She raised her hands up in the air and screamed at the nearest car to stop; they slammed on their breaks when they saw the Vice Foreign Minister, covered in sweat, torn clothing, and blood, standing in the middle of the road.

-   
yuki yamu made (Until the snow stops.)"

Uno lowered her head the moment her fingers had stopped pressing on the keys and the music had stopped. The pain filling her chest at that very moment was hurting so badly she didn't think she could keep on going as she had been. A small whimper escaped her lips as a sudden flow of tears began to pour out of her face, drenching her skin and spilling down her body. It was too much for her to do; way too much to take on.

Heero had lowered his head yet again. What she sang was sad enough that now, watching her hang her head and sob, had made _him_ want to cry.

Heero's body had never felt like it weighed so much in his entire life at that point. Watching Uno was like watching a child's life being torn away from their soul. It reminded him of his childhood and he was beginning to wish he could turn back the time and stop all the wars from ever happening, to let him have a decent life, to let his comrades have a decent life… to let Uno have her decent life.

Tears stung his eyes as he cried along-side with Uno. He cried for all the pain he'd gone through in his whole life; he cried for everything.

He cried because Uno had to fight this war alone and it was going to be a heavier burden to carry than what he had been through… and she had to do it alone.

-

An hour went by when Heero had finally been able to clear the burden off his chest enough so he could see clearly. Uno had left the music room soon after they both gave each other a hug and agreed that the war was about to begin.

Heero stepped into the living room where everyone else was standing around and discussing a matter that caused them all to bow their heads. He blinked when he stepped up to them and saw Duo slowly lift his head, a massive look of regret painted across his face.

"Heero…" Duo's face broke the silence. Heero looked over and saw Quatre on the couch with Trowa's arm around him. The two of them had been crying. He looked back over to Duo as his comrade stepped up to him; tears had been on his face as well. What happened?

"We just got a call from the police…" Duo's sniffled a little. "They just found Wufei and Sally in a car explosion down Main Street in the Plaza."

The horror wiped clear across Heero's face just then; the Plaza was where their date was tonight. There's no way in Hell that was any ordinary car explosion; it's the same area where that stalker had tried to assassinate Heero several years before.

"They don't know what happened but… we do." Duo stuffed his fists in his pockets and hung his head as another tear fell from his lashes.

The bell rang suddenly and without anybody getting up, it slammed open and Relena came rushing inside, her purse and the mansion keys thrown down to the ground. Heero blinked up at her; she was covered in sweat and blood and her clothing was torn.

"Heero!" Relena cried out his name and quickly wrapped her arms around him. She dug her head into his chest and tightened her grip on his body.

"Relena?" Heero's voice was urgent. By now, Quatre and Trowa stood back up, but knowing what had happened, Quatre sat right back down.

"Relena, what happened?!" Heero urged on.

"They broke into the mansion!" She cried into his chest. Heero's gaze went to Duo, who in turn looked seriously pissed off. "Une managed to kill a few as we locked ourselves in the office, but there was no way to get a hold of anyone." She paused to breath and a squeak had churned her voice. "The computers were down, the phone lines were cut, and all the guards have been brutally slaughtered!"

He wrapped his arms securely around his fiancé's body and held her closely. Tears began to sting his eyes once more and he looked over to see Duo staring back at him, the same seriousness in his own eyes and the same saddened, depressing, flowing of tears threatening to fall.

"Relena… leave right now." Heero surprised himself with his own urgent voice and Duo sniffled a few tears back.

"What?" She lifted her face up to his.

Heero pushed her back and looked dead in her eyes with his old glare from the past.

"They are probably locked onto us right now; head to Hildies this moment and don't leave until you see me again. Neither you or she will leave, promise me, Relena!"

Relena sniffled and blinked in confusion. She nodded her head and agreed, "I promise."

Heero hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Relena; but right now you _have_ to stay hidden. Make sure nobody knows you two are still there, okay? Don't call anybody, don't do a damn thing; just stay put until I come for you."

Relena nodded and began to back away. She turned right then and began to quickly gather her items and run out of the mansion.

"Heero?" Duo blinked at him and wiped the tears from his face.

"Call Hildie from the Security Lines and warn her." Heero turned to head towards the Military Wing and the weapon rooms. "I'm gathering the weapons."

-

Uno sniffled back a few tears as she looked around the room. Singing her song had torn her apart badly, but she sang whatever came to mind; if only Theresa could have been here to hear it, she woulda' said Uno had talent to do standup singing.

"Or even Ricky…" Uno murmured.

She looked around her room and paused upon seeing the CD Ricky had made for her, sitting on the desk. She's had the thing for weeks and never bothered to put it into the machine and listen to the song. Sniffling, she decided to go ahead and play the music.

She stepped up to the desk and when she picked up the disk, it felt as if it had weighed a ton. Ricky had handed this to her right before their very first, real kiss.

Uno touched her lips with her fingers; she could still feel his kiss on her lips, but when she closed her eyes to remember the moment, she saw his glazed orbs instead, covered in his own blood that should have been hers.

The tears began to threaten again, only this time she had full control over herself and shook her head to clear her mind. She went to her stereo and put the CD into the slot.

The sound of guitar began to play and immediately, Ricky's imprint return to her mind and she began to cry once again. Thankfully, her armchair was behind her as she collapsed to the cushions below. She remembered when he first played the few chords in the Rec Room, verifying with Duo and herself if they sounded good enough; she just didn't know what they were supposed to be good enough for.

Now she knew and she wish she never had.

_Behind Blue Eyes is by The Who_

"No one knows what it's like   
To be the bad man   
To be the sad man   
Behind blue eyes   
No one knows what it's like   
To be hated   
To be fated   
To telling only lies   
But my dreams   
They aren't as empty   
As my conscience seems to be   
I have hours, only lonely   
My love is vengeance   
That's never free

-

Relena ran up to Hildie's door and began to pound on it; only moments after did Hildie open it and did Relena rush in. Behind her, Relena slammed the door shut and locked the bolt. She spun around to look at Hildie and explain, but she was cut short.

"Duo told me what happened; I know." Hildie's eyes had told Relena that she wasn't sure either, if any one would make it out alive. She just wished that they wouldn't have to go through another painful experience.

-   
No one knows what it's like   
To feel these feelings   
Like I do   
And I blame you   
No one bites back as hard

On their anger   
None of my pain and woe   
Can show through   
But my dreams   
They aren't as empty   
As my conscience seems to be   
I have hours, only lonely   
My love is vengeance   
That's never free

-

"Miss Mareimaia?" Dorothy curtsied a few of the servants and stepped into the room. Mareimaia lowered her gaze from her stare out of her bedroom window, horror filtering through her lashes.

"It's time… isn't it?" Her voice was low.

"Yes; we must hurry and get into the basement before they find us." Dorothy saw the trucks around the driveway that Mareimaia was watching from her window. "They have already targeted us."

Mareimaia turned around and nodded her head. "Then let us go and hide."

-   
When my fist clenches, crack it open   
Before I use it and lose my cool   
When I smile, tell me some bad news   
Before I laugh and act like a fool   
If I swallow anything evil   
Put your finger down my throat   
If I shiver, please give me a blanket   
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

-

"Relena!" Hildie leaped from her stand by the door and pulled Relena down to the floor before a bullet had swiped her clean. Hildie heard the click of the chamber round from outside her window and when she saw the gleam of the gun she knew it wasn't just any noise.

When the two of them had hit the ground they immediately covered their heads expecting a firing of bullets, but nothing happened. Relena looked around the base of the floorboards, blinking in confusion.

Hildie looked up as well and gazed around, but she saw something that didn't take her one bit of being confused to know what it was.

"Those fucking assholes!" Hildie growled. Relena looked over to their left and saw what she was looking at; a plastic box beneath her entry table with a clock and red sensor light on it. All color drained from her face when she realized that she wasn't going to live as Heero had planned.

"They fucking planted my house!"

From a distance in the city, a man dressed in black stood with a grin on his face and a switch in his hand. His fellow assassins near by him were sitting in the van, waiting for their leave, and as soon as he pressed the button and the explosion had hit, they were able to return to the base.

-

The yellow limo sped through the empty streets of the city in search of the nearest back path to lead them away from town. Some explosion that had just hit only seconds ago had cleared the streets and Dorothy had the space she needed to make a run for it.

Mareimaia sat in the set besides her and the two of them were going to hide out elsewhere and wait it out until they were able to show their faces in public once again.

Suddenly, out of no where, a large black van pulled out in front of them and with the fast speed Dorothy was using, the heavy impact caused a massive damage. Both girls screamed out loud as the limo plowed into the black van and glass shattered around them.

Dorothy looked up and darted her gaze around quickly. Mareimaia had noticed, from the corner of her eyes, another van headed straight for their right side.

"Dorothy!" Mareimaia screamed. Dorothy looked over and saw the van coming at their right then saw looked to her left and saw another.

"What in the Hell is going on here?!" Fuming with anger, she looked up into the rear-view mirror and saw a fourth large, black van speeding up in their direction.

"This isn't any way to murder someone and start a war!" Dorothy screamed.

Within seconds, the three vans had plowed into the limo at separated time, crushing the luxury car into a tiny, compact vehicle.

-   
No one knows what it's like   
To be the bad man   
To be the sad man   
Behind blue eyes."

Uno lowered her head the moment the song had ended and felt another torment of pain flowing through her veins. Something was not right about all this; people don't just die like that! They don't just drop dead like flies!

But here she was… alone… without anyone but her family by her side… and crying. She wrapped her arms around her body and grasped tightly onto her sleeves of her black jersey. The tears had stung and burned badly and finally, they fell.

-

Duo stepped up to Heero with the phone in his fist, his knuckles white as the snow that the weather man said would fall that very night. His chin pressed firmly against the antenna, his eyes fixated on the floor. Everyone was in a bad mood as it were, but he had to tell them what he was just told.

"Duo, who was on the phone?" Quatre looked up. The poor boy had so much agony hitting him the past few hours, Duo wasn't sure if he should say anything.

"Doctor J…" Duo mumbled. Heero looked up from the couch and his laptop. "He said he just received a notice on his screen from Synodd… the bastards hacked his machine."

"You're kidding?" Heero murmered.

Duo shook his head. "Afraid not…" He looked down, pain showing through his eyes. "The message said that they had just killed Relena, Hildie, Dorothy, and Mareimaia…"

Duo's voice trailed off when he saw the tears filling Heero's eyes and felt the same attacking his own. Heero's hands were suddenly weak and his knees could no longer hold his laptop, causing it to fall to the floor with a _thud_. Duo swallowed hard despite the pain that filled his chest.

"He said that… he received photos of the incident; the fuckers had taken pictures of it all!" Duo was shouting the final words and his eyes were blurry of all sight. Tears poured down his face. "That fucking company is exterminating us!"

Quatre began to sob into his hands and Trowa only hung his head more. He couldn't handle all of this; everyone was gone… dead… and they were next.

-

-

-

**AN:** Wow… didn't think I'd get this chapter out in time… well, thank God I already had up until Uno beginning Powder Snow already written from months back. ;; Now… one chapter left to go… enjoy the wait! Lol; sorry, but school's ending and as I said before, this is only one of three stories I'm trying to do aside a research paper, helping others with their English, and other hectic school work. At least I got this thing out in time, eh? winks


	31. Memories Forgotten

**People!** This is NOT the final chapter! I WOULD have written that, but I'm not yet finished with the site and not yet ready to publish this into a book so you all can buy it. I will, however, finish the site soon enough, trust me! I've kept this thing living for about 5-7 years… I'm not about ready to give it up any time soon and to those who have stayed with me throughout it all… you can trust me on that! Heh, but here! Go to: to get the latest crap for this fic! It'll also carry over into the next story—yes, there will STILL be another fic for this. Again, I say, the link to the site is a MUST CLICK ON! Because I wasn't ready to upload (or even write) the final chapter, this is another dream… of what COULD have happened should Sarah Cleaver NOT die and Duo stay put on Earth. I haven't had time to write for MANY reasons… all of which pile down to me not having even the time to read a book. Okay… go read

http: slash slash duoschild dot topcities dot com  
You have to read the link out loud to understand how it's typed out because this fanfiction site won't show it elsewise.

If that's still too hard to read, try this:  
http duoschild topcities com

Go there please! More will be completed on it, but until then... enjoy the read. Trust me, THAT will be uploaded before this final chapter will be!

* * *

Duo's Child

Chapter 31

Duo yawned and stretched his arms out high above his head. The bad taste of salt plastered to the roof of his mouth. He sighed heavily as he took a look at his surroundings then down to the bed where his wife once laid. She must have gotten up earlier; she always does that when she's preparing a surprise.

Grinning with the thought on knowing already what the surprise was, Duo slid off the side of the bed and took a look at the room. It was still messy from the night before, considering they were really thrilled that it was the first night alone since before their daughter was born; she spent the night at a friend's house. When he stepped up to their full length mirror standing besides the dresser, Duo winked at his reflection. Clad in only his satiny, black boxers, Duo's body was entirely bare and refreshed from the night before. His hair, on the other hand, was a different matter. It was matted up, distraught looking, and the braid had let loose half of his front strands to spill around his shoulders. He looked messy—hot, but messy.

Duo shrugged and unwrapped his hair then let the flowing of the braid unravel. He stuck the elastic band around his wrist and walked up to the dresser to get Sarah's brush. It didn't take long to crease out a few tangles and smooth his lovely long hair, but it did take a while to locate his clothes; that woman sure had a knack for laundry. He decided, instead, on his black and red, Asian robe.

-

Sarah was frying a few eggs in the skillet when a pair of arms snaked around her waist. Smiling, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Duo's face neared her neck and planted light kisses along her skin causing her to shiver with slight anticipation.

"Emm," she moaned. "Mornin'." Her voice was husky and she cleared it before opening her eyes to look at the clock on the microwave to their left.

"You slept in."

Duo smirked, "Can't a guy get some rest?" He pressed his lips down on the back of her neck forcefully and kissed her harshly. When he released he had to lick his lips moist again.

"Besides… I didn't get enough in the war."

"Well, just don't start pulling me back to bed this later in the day," she smirked and flipped one of the frying eggs, Duo's arms still wrapped firmly around her body. "Unlike you, I've still got a house and child to care for."

"You think I don't care for her?" Duo pouted playfully. "Oh I feel hurt now." He looked away but couldn't resist the grin he felt coming from the woman in his arms.

"Daddy!" Duo spun around at the high pitched voice he heard coming from the hallway. A little identical clone with the same long braid came running up to him with her arms spread apart.

"Hey sugar!" Duo released Sarah to kneel down and wrap his arms around his little girl and hoist her off the ground. She giggled when she felt her father's hands brush against her sides. She hugged his neck as he kissed her cheek in response.

"So, what time did you come home?" He asked, smiling back at her humongous grin.

"At eight this morning..." Sarah's voice trailed to a lower tone, "with a candy bar in her hands."

"Candy this early in the morning?" He eyed Uno. "Who taught you that?"

"Oh gee, let me guess," Sarah paused to turn around and put her fists on her hips. She gave Duo an irritated expression. "Hum… I wonder." Duo stood frozen in spot with a grin on his face, more along the lines of 'I've just been found out!' Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to the finished eggs sitting on the fire.

"It's okay," Duo whispered to Uno while winking. "Mommy's been a bad girl all last night, too. So she can't get on you that badly." Duo turned to grin at Sarah as she slowly turned back to glare him. Her red hair pulled back into a bun with her tantalizing green eyes turned him on and the fact that she was upset only boiled his blood more.

Duo put Uno down and patted her back. "Go play some Tekken and I'll come in in a few minutes to kick your butt."

"Awight!" Uno ran off towards the living room. Duo opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. When he noticed Sarah rolling her eyes, he pulled back exasperated.

"What? I'm thirsty!"

"This early in the morning?" Sarah stepped up to the table and placed the eggs on an awaiting plate. Duo knew it was for him so he followed behind and sat down to eat. He took another sip, shrugged, and then hoarsely responded, "What can I say? I haven't had a chance for a beer in months."

"Oh… some woman called here earlier looking for you." Sarah returned to the stove to clean up.

"What was her name?" Duo muffled out through a mouth full of food.

"Hildie Something," was her sullen reply. Duo nearly choked down his bite before turning around to stare at his wife with a shocked expression. Sarah didn't look up; she just kept cleaning the mess around the stove.

"She said she was a friend of yours during the war and didn't get a chance to thank you after she got out of the hospital." Duo blinked, noticing Sarah not facing him. _Was she jealous?_

"How did she get the number?" Duo looked down in thought. "I only called Quatre since I've been here."

"Perhaps she called him looking for you." Sarah trashed the dirty paper towels then turned to face him, an irritated look on her face. She pressed her fist to the counter to her left and her right fist on her hips. Duo swallowed back the wad of spit that was forming in his throat; she always did that when she was getting unhappy about something.

"What kind of friend was she to you?" Duo looked down in thought unable to answer. "Is it someone that matters more than me and your child?"

"Sarah," Duo looked back up at her. "Hildie is a girl that I met while on a mission. It wasn't a friendly friendship at first but—"

"But afterwards you two got pretty close?" She crossed her arms. "How close?"

Duo stood up and brought his hands up into the air to keep the gap between them. "Not that close." He responded while staring into her eyes. "She was a friend I roomed with after she left the military. When she had me in confinement, I put a few thoughts into her head that told her to get out before it was too late."

"And nothing happened?"

"No! Nothing happened!" Duo lowered his arms and looked away to keep his voice low. "Why does this bother you so much?"

"Because I need to know if you're going to stay or not!" Duo looked at her now, wonder filling his eyes. Sarah hardly ever even raised her voice—unless she was angry with someone or something. "I need to know because up until four months before you returned did I notice the appearance of Uno to realize she was your child and not Derricks! Because up until four months before your return did I think Derrick was her real father and told him so! And now, seven months have passed since you've even come back and Derrick called right before your girlfriend from the war called, saying he's got vacation from the military and he's coming home to spend time with his fiancé and 'thought-to-be' child!"

Duo stood still with shock written all over his face. He's never even heard of this 'Derrick' until now and she still thought Hildie was his girlfriend—though he didn't blame her… everyone thought that. But who is this Derrick!

"Who's Derrick?" Duo asked; it was the only thing he _could_ ask at that current moment.

"He's my boyfriend of three years. He was away in training when you and I first met before Oz began. I never mentioned him because I liked you then as I do now—and just like then, I'm afraid if you leave, only this time you have no reason _to_ leave so I need to know if you're planning on it."

Duo blinked in wonder at her, his face really staring off in thought. He licked his lips and said the obvious that was planted into his mind just then.

"He thinks Uno is his kid?" Sarah nodded. "What do you think will happen when he finds out the truth?"

Sarah shrugged. "I don't know… he's a marine." Duo felt the pain soaring through his body just then and he groaned out lout as his head pulled back and his eyes shut. "What?"

"I hate marines… they fight and kill then ask questions later." He hung his head in despair. "He's a bad guy, isn't he?" Duo massaged his temples with one hand.

"Well, what the fuck did you expect of me!" Duo snapped his face up to Sarah's; she just cussed loud enough for Uno to hear. "I thought we just had a one-night-shot! I mean, there were plenty of places to return too; why did you come back here?"

Duo looked down as his tongue lapped at one corner of his mouth. "You really want to know?" He knew it would hurt him and kill her, but it's the truth. She nodded and he stared off to the side.

"Because there wasn't a shuttle to return to L2 just yet, I was hungry, tired, dirty, exhausted—"

"So you came here to use me?"

"And that I also had you on my mind because I was in the neighborhood!" Duo's voice rose to a roar when he finished his statement. He was staring into her eyes and from across the distant he could make out the beautiful green color that was added to them. "The thought of _using_ you didn't even come to mind!"

"So why didn't you call Quatre?" Sarah smirked.

"Because sometimes, friends only last so long. Even though, yeah we were _good_ friends, I don't always like to rely on them." Duo looked away in quick thought before returning to those remarkable eyes. "And besides, as I was exiting, I passed by a lower class shuttle that was traveling to each colony for drop-offs and I decided to come here instead. We didn't ask to be brought back to Earth but the MO2 shuttle did!"

Sarah looked down suddenly, too upset to stare at Duo in the face. She sniffled a little and cleared her throat. Duo looked down and groaned. He had the chance of taking the ship home and was debating against it because he remembered the lovely red head he had met here once before.

"How did you remember me?" Sarah asked with a voice soft. She lifted her face back up to the man across her.

"Honestly… I glanced around to look at my surroundings and this chick with frizzy—and I mean _frizzy—_red hair walked by. I commented silently on how horrible it had looked then remember the only other person I ever met with that same color hair. Usually, I don't care but that woman _reeked_ of disgust!" Sarah sighed and lowered her head. "Look Babe…" Duo looked down in another quick thought before returning to her again. "When is Derrick coming here?"

"For Christmas." She stared at him. Duo turned off to the side again with a sneer. He cursed softly beneath his breath. "He said he wanted it to be a surprise but he couldn't hold his excitement back."

Duo was staring off to the side of the kitchen, gritting his teeth and seething. "Fuck! And all the goddamned shuttles are booked by this time."

"Where would you go, anyways?" Sarah folded her arms.

Duo shrugged. "Hell, I'd room with another drunk on the streets—I don't care! I don't want to get into a fight with my background." Sarah looked off in thought. "E_specially_ if the guy is a marine!" Sarah blinked up at him.

"What does that matter?"

"I'm a Gundam Pilot—well, _was_—and I've stolen his woman and his child; you do the math."

"Duo… I'm not exactly your woman. Uno, yes, she is yours—but I'm still considered open."

Duo looked at her hand as she brought it up and wiggled the one finger that locks her to any guy—or girl, in this day and age. He blinked with a sudden awareness that he had forgotten then smirked back up at her.

"What?" She asked with curiosity in her voice.

"I've still got the cash on me that I was going to use to go back to the colony. Let's get hitched right now."

"Duo!" She fumed.

"What!"

"I can't do that!" Her gaze darted around quickly. "It-it's wrong!"

"Well, in a way, _not_ being married to me and having that kid here is wrong, too."

"Duo!" She growled. Duo stood there grinning like an idiot. Sarah sighed, rolled her eyes, and tossed her hands up into the air. "That's not an answer!"

"Then I'll face him." Duo calmed the humor out of his voice. Sarah gave him a questionable face and he just shrugged it off. "I've been in worse situations… don't forget, I _was_ a Gundam Pilot."

"Yeah and you got beat up really bad and probably always had a gun in your face. You probably felt like it was a vacation whenever you were with your friends." Sarah bit her bottom lip and tossed the towel over her shoulder.

Duo's face twisted just then. "My friends weren't _always_ pretty relaxing… there were sometimes they'd put a gun in my face and many of those times they actually looked like they were about to shoot me."

"I sometimes wish they had." She rolled her eyes. Duo strutted himself up towards her, lowering his gaze to check her out.

"Do you?" He grinned. He licked his dry lips. "But that means I wouldn't have been here to please you so much last night." He grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist and planted light kisses along her neck. Sarah rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his back, unable to hold back from smirking in response.

"Yeah yeah… all men think alike."

She heard a small chuckle coming from her neck and she cringed as the tickle got stronger. Giggling too much, she hadn't heard the telephone ring at all.

"So…" She pushed Duo back and stared up into his eyes after giving him one soft kiss on his delicate lips. "Christmas is four weeks away… what are we going to do?"

"About Derrick?"

"Yeah." Sarah looked down to the side where she saw Uno walking up to them with the phone in her outstretched arms.

"Mommy… Dewick's on the phone." Uno smiled up at her parents. Sarah felt the blood in her body freeze for a moment. She picked up the phone out of Uno's hands and stepped back from Duo.

"Hello Derrick." Duo turned away and shushed Uno out of the kitchen. His little girl was so adorable but she was so naive to the truth about her parent's hard times. When Duo later returned to the kitchen from shushing her away, he saw the relaxed features on Sarah's face fill her with a smile.

"Alright… yeah, I understand. I'll see you then." She shut her eyes and Duo blinked. "L-love you, too… bye." The phone _beeped_ off.

"Stuttering?" Duo wrapped one of his arms around her back and rubbed her gently.

"It was nervous—yes." She placed the phone on the counter and sighed heavily. She rested her head on his inner shoulder and relaxed.

"So what happened?" Duo asked as his other hand came forward to brush the hair away from her face.

"He had to cancel plans. He wasn't too thrilled, but he said something came up and the military had to stay put."

"Good… we'll be gone by the time he _does_ come here." Sarah blinked up at him.

"Huh?"

"Tell Uno to start packing… we're moving away from here." Duo was serious and turned away to return to his 'now' cold plate of fried eggs. "If that guy's a true marine as you said, well then… with the history I have that's against marines, the fact that I also have you and Uno for myself—that just means that he no longer has anything to return home too and it makes him pissed that the guys who kicked their ass… well, have kicked his ass once again." Duo took a bite of his eggs and swallowed hard. Sarah stood there in shock.

"Where will we go then?"

He guzzled down his beer then handed her the plate unfinished. "Start packing now. We're going to the upper eastern territory."

He turned away to put the bottle in the bin.

"What's there?"

"Quatre."

"Oh… so you _do_ remain friends, after all?" She smirked at him but stilled her humor when he gave her a serious stare back.

"Yes… we do." He looked down in thought. "How did you meet this Derrick anyways?" Duo leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. His knee had stuck out as his foot pressed against the wall. Sarah shrugged and turned around to put the plate in the sink.

"I went to X-00149 a few years back with a few friends and something happened—I honestly can't recall what—and I woke up in the hospital with a few military people around my bed. He was the closest and he explained to me that I had been involved in some sort of terrorist attack and got hit in the process of it all."

"So that's how y'all met?"

Sarah shrugged. "Well… we met there, but he was with me until I was back here and after that… I don't know… I guess we sorta' hung out as much as possible. When he was on vacation, I'd let him stay here."

"What happened to those friends of yours?" His brows creased.

"We parted after a while. They said Derrick was only using me for sex and a place to stay and such… feeding off me, you know? They kept trying to get me to break up with him but he was just too sweet a guy to do that too."

"That… or you felt scared to because he would always hit you if you made him angry." Sarah looked down but still felt Duo's intense gaze on her. Her voice crackled.

"It happened… but he apologized afterwards."

Duo smirked. "Yeah, because he still wanted a place to be welcomed too for the next time he goes on a vacation." Sarah looked away. To change the topic and lighten the mood, Duo brought up something Derrick had stated to her on the phone.

"What's going on that held him back for Christmas with his 'family'?"

Sarah shrugged and removed the towel from her neck so she could fold it in her hands. "I don't know… he's on X-18999 so I don't know what could be going on there; that's too new a colony to have anything with the military to deal with." She slid the towel through the fridge handles. "And besides… he kept insisting that I go there with Uno to stay on the base with him—as a matter of fact, he seemed quite urgent for me to do that." Sarah looked down in deep thought, her brows creasing intensely.

Duo blinked up at him. "What did you say was the reason he stayed put?"

Sarah blinked over at him. "He just said that they were pulling the military back but he didn't say why."

"Who is his leader?" Duo put his leg down as his though pattern grew deeper.

"Why?"

"Sarah," Duo stepped up to her. "I need to know—this could be important. The military had sworn to die down after they found out they totally fucked up with the White Fang War."

Sarah looked off in thought and closed her eyes. She shook her head. "I-uh… um… I think he said… some guy named… Dekim."

Duo blinked. "Huh?"

Sarah looked up at him. "Dekim Barton. Why?"

"Barton?" Duo blinked. "Did you just say Barton?"

Sarah nodded. The look on his face told her something was wrong.

"Why?"

"Barton is Trowa's stolen name." He raced out at her.

"Who?" She blinked in confusion. Duo rolled his eyes.

"One of my partners from the Gundam group had stolen the name of Trowa Barton from some other guy who had died in some misfortunate event—I know this because he told me. Barton is the name of the people who have started Operation Meteor… they were held responsible for it, but that's when we came in and turned it around thanks to our most hated mentors."

Sarah was blinking up at him, total confusion lost in her eyes. She slowly shook her head. "I don't get you, Duo."

Duo's enlarged eyes lifted away from her face and off in space to the distance behind her.

"Oh my God…" he muttered. "He's going to go through with it—Dekim's going to go through with Operation Meteor and we don't have our Gundams to fight back anymore." Realization stung like a bitch just then.

"So…" Sarah's voice trailed off. "Duo?"

"I've got to stop him!"

"How?" She pulled back, her voice high pitched and hitting another level.

He looked down at her and a sheltered memory from the past returned to remind him of the perfect guy for the job. "I've got to call Heero." He spun around to run up to the bedroom.

"What good will that do?" Sarah called out at him.

His shouted response came back at her. "Because he's an assassin!"


	32. Final Fate

**This is it... the final chapter of the story which took me 7 years to write. To order your own copy and more, please see to the Duo's Child website located on my homepage or posted below. _Remember, there are no 'dots' in the address to keep the link from _**

**_http: (slash slash) duoschild (dot) cjb (dot) com

* * *

_**

Duo's Child

Chapter 32

"Right, but what are we going to tell Heero?" Professor G stuffed both his fists back into the pockets of his lab coat as he followed slowly behind Doctor J. "That there will be far too much to tolerate should he carry through with what he's suggesting?"

"Actually I was thinking of something quite opposite than that—" J froze in spot when he saw three other people in white lab coats setting down heavy equipment in their Government-funded warehouse deep beneath the Earth's surface. "May I help you gentlemen?" J's voice sounded loud and it caused the three new figured to turn around. The intruders were far much younger than assumed and it only put a cold chill down the two experienced spines in that room.

"We are here on account of Synodd's future attack," the voice of the man with shoulder-length blonde hair was higher than it should be and a blue earring glimmered from where he stood. The other two stepped up besides him.

"Synodd has prepared an attack here in short time and we think it best to back the two of you up, considering it appears you have been through enough we don't believe you could handle anything as hard as we are expecting." This man's voice sounded a bit arrogant and his grinning face only proved it more.

"Why you incompetent asshole." G stepped forward. "The only think that would slow us down will be the three new scientists that have just invaded private territory."

"Quite the contrary," the third man stepped up having dark blue hair with black roots. "We highly doubt you old men would be capable of running from one side of the hangar to the next without having a heart attack, assuming you still have hearts considering how old you are and that you're still alive."

"How dare you." J growled. "Fine, do your job and be done with it when Synodd is through, but don't expect neither one of us to help when Synodd finds out your plans and attacks your machines."

"Sorry Grandpa, but unlike Romefeller, Oz, and White Fang, Synodd has prepared their mobile suites with Gundanium Alloy and is ready to carry through with their plans." The arrogant man—who has black hair in a bowl cut—lifted his nose and snorted. "But, if the two of you need any help in case you come down with a sudden case of memory collapse, we _will_ be there to help you." His grin faded into an annoying smile and J turned to glance at the mobile suit standing in the corner of the room.

"I guess you have picked out your own pilots to do your tasks?" G asked through a forced kindness and a fake smile.

"Yes, we have handpicked our very best fighters for the times we figure will be ahead of us." The blond hair scientists replied back with a smile.

"And what do you plan on basing your Mobile Suit off of?" J asked, all known anger out of his voice and only stated with curiosity. G and the other three glanced up at the half-built machine.

"We are basing it off of the Wing-Zero. It has been proven in combat when your pilot maneuvered it that it will be the best machine to copy."

"True," J replied before lowering his voice to a whisper, "that is, unless you want to die fatally in what Synodd has prepared for their wars."

-

"I understand. I will make certain she is ready. Agreeable. Yes." Heero's voice was monotoned. Duo glanced his way as he passed by heading towards Quatre.

"Who's he talking too?" Duo asked. Quatre was leaning on the door frame of the kitchen and biting his lower lip. So much has been going on these past few days that he wasn't sure what was _supposed_ to happen.

"I don't know," shrugged Quatre. His arms were crossed over his chest.

Heero hung up the phone and looked over to Quatre and Duo. Since the death of the Vice Foreign Minister, Heero has been acting the way he had when White Fang was around—very moody and weak hearted, yet his attitude of fighting has returned full out.

"Doctor J stated three new scientists have arrived at their underground hangar and are now building new machines." Heero glanced down to the phone.

"Look's like we're retired after all," Duo rested his fists on his hips and glanced back at Quatre.

"There are three new pilots who are probably in training right now." Quatre sighed. "Uno will be with them."

"Not by the sound of J's voice." Heero spoke up.

"Huh?" Quatre and Duo glanced his way.

"Doctor J stated there will be one more scientist arriving in a few days who will be the mentor of their diversion pilot." Heero stepped around the couch and end table towards the group. "One of the new fighters will be used as an immediate diversion so the others could get their missions finished."

"Well… just as long as they stay away from Uno, that's for damn sure," mumbled Duo. "Besides, if there's going to be four other pilots, aren't they all going to have to team up?"

"Not necessarily." Quatre answered. "But it's all up to Uno."

The three of the remained silent the rest of the conversation.

-

"Uno, you're not giving me your best shot!" Trowa demanded. Uno leapt into the air and sprang her foot at Trowa's head. He just barely dodged and stumbled backwards. His ankle twisted funny and caused him to trip, fall backwards and land in a bas position. He yelped but froze when he saw Uno in the air above him, ready to smash her elbow and kneecap on his awaiting body.

Uno dropped her legs immediately when she saw the look of fear in Trowa's face and paused three inches away from him, her body just barely able to remain standing. Sweat fell from her chin and landed on his chest. Both their lips were parted and both of them were breathing heavy. Trowa had fear in his eyes as Uno had shock and determination in hers.

She stood up and walked away to the benches to get a sip of her water. It was too much and she didn't know how much longer she had to go. Trowa sat up, his heart racing. She could have killed him just then if she didn't stop herself in time. Her elbow would have gone right through his neck and her kneecap would have caught him in the stomach; there would be no way he would be able to live from it.

-

Uno was throwing punches into the kick bag about four and a half hours later when suddenly she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. It stung worse than anything and when the bag swung to the side and she punched the brick wall at full force, she hardly felt the pain.

Instead, the only pain she felt was running through her chest and weakened her legs. She crossed her arms across her chest and felt the tears threatening to fall. Something just happened… something drastic just hit her hard; something evil was coming to life.

-

Trowa walked into the living room that same night. Heero was on the arm chair with the remote control in his hands. Duo and Quatre were sitting on the couch staring at the television. Trowa paused and glanced towards the broadcast. The news lady was standing live in front of one of their buildings while a huge celebration took place behind her.

"It is official, Synodd has now lifted itself off the ground as a small company and is now the largest, leading corporation, ever known since Romefeller—and _that_ has been a _long_ time. We don't yet know, though, if they plan on upgrading our research productions and medical warfare, but they _have_ promised us good news. They-uh-they have agreed to spend over three point five billion dollars in donations across the world to those in need of it, but uh we're not yet sure which ones they have on their list-."

Heero turned off the television.

"It's set then, isn't it?" Trowa spoke up. Heero glanced over at him. "The war has just about to start."

Heero nodded his reply. Trowa sighed heavily and lowered his head. His eyes shut and he slowly shook his head. The telephone rang and he picked it up. Duo and Quatre turned around to look up at him and blinked at the dead look being returned. Trowa nodded and hung up without saying anything the entire time.

"Trowa?" Quatre's voice was soft.

"Noin's dead." He shut his eyes and lowered his head. His fists gripped the back of the couch fiercely. "She was found dead in her car just this evening and her body was so cold it appeared she's been dead for weeks."

"Where was her car located?" Heero's voice crackled.

"Nine miles south of Winner." Heero hung his head at Trowa's reply.

"I think it's starting." Duo mumbled. "We're the last four left who knows anything about the past."

"Where's Zechs?" Quatre looked up at Duo with wondrous eyes.

Duo shrugged. "He hasn't called or shown up in days… he's probably dead too; just we don't know yet."

-

Uno dragged her feet into her bedroom. Getting up the stairs was hard enough, but she managed. When she shut the door behind herself, she took a glance around her bedroom—at the red Grim Reaper lamp besides her bed, the black mini-blinds and heavy red drapes on her windows, and her black bulbs shining from the middle of her ceiling—and felt something inside telling her to memorize the way it looks for this'll be the last time she enters it.

A tear fell besides her nose but it didn't phase her one bit. She knew something was wrong. She just wished she could turn back time to when she was six-years-old and start all over again. She had a normal life then, but just like Duo said, Gundam Pilot's weren't born to lead normal lives; they were born to lead missions.

She pulled herself to her bed and sat down, biting her tongue hard to get herself to stop crying. She managed to pull that off by staring over at the picture sitting on her desk; it consisted of everyone she everyone knew; her family—everyone who was friends from the past—Theresa, herself, and Ricky. Their reunion the photo was taken from was held several years ago right before Theresa was killed and she asked if her two best friends could join. It was the best day of her life and she loved the picture a lot.

Uno sat still and stared into the eyes of her own face, trying to read into the mind of that little child who once had it all so easy.

-

Quatre headed down the hall from the bathroom and back towards the living room when Heero's laptop beeped from on the coffee table. Heero blinked down at it and read through the report.

"What's it say?" Quatre asked as he sat on the arm of the couch besides Duo.

"Come to the hangar for immediate attention." His voice was monotone and he scrolled down to see the blinking 'accept' button at the bottom of the screen.

"Heero, you can't agree to accept the mission," Duo's voice was urgent. "You're out of fit and they need the mission to be done by the best—you're not the best anymore."

"Hrm…" Heero lowered his head, accepting the truth which Duo was saying. He wasn't in shape, he didn't know if he could run as fast as he used to, and above all, he didn't think he could handle the intense trainings again.

A sudden and loud crackle roared through the front door and caused the wood to burst into a million pieces and fly around the hallway. At that exact same time, a bullet flew by the back of Quatre's head so closely he could feel it singe his hair.

The four of them—shock written on all of their faces—leapt from their places and rushed towards the hallway only to see it get invaded at that same time by at least a dozen men in black military suits with armor and weapons surrounding their bodies. Gunshots were fired and the four expilots spread out to take to their own fight.

A soldier grabbed Duo's braid and yanked, causing Duo to fall to the ground on his back. Duo fell but upon hitting the ground brought his foot up to the guy's stomach. Quatre leapt out of the way as another soldier tried to use him as a punching bag and grabbed a vase from a shelf to use as a weapon; the man's head was dosed in blood when the shards fell to the ground.

Trowa and Heero gave the remaining soldiers a pretty good fight but still were having a hard time. All four of them paused when they saw another batch of soldiers charging in through the front door then realized that, in order to stay alive, they had to flee.

"I refuse to fight another losing battle!" Duo screamed out before he slammed his fist into the unsuspecting nose of a soldier.

Heero grabbed the hands of a soldier from behind and threw him over his back to hit the wall roughly, taking down a few others with his fall. Without pausing again, he sprang to his guard and took off out of the living room.

"Heero!" Quatre shouted out after him. He kicked the front of the soldiers' leg that was blocking his way and caused it to break. He took out after his comrade.

"Duo," Trowa shouted out as he just barely dodged the gunfire that was being shot at his head. "We have to get out!"

"What!" Duo threw a soldier down the opposite hallway of the front door and spun around to glare at Trowa. "No!"

"Duo," Trowa ran up to Duo and grabbed his friend's arm tightly. "We have to go." His voice was demanding.

"I am _not_ leaving her!" Duo snared back. Trowa was hit in the back from another soldier but it didn't sting too badly. He spun around and decked the man who had attacked him before pulling Duo through the living room and down the hallway.

"No!" Duo tried to grab hold of the stair case as they passed by but Trowa was pulling way too hard. "No! I can't leave her! No!" Saliva fell out of Duo's mouth as he tried to get free from Trowa's capture.

"No!" Duo's voice crackled when it was used louder than he had ever used it before. Heero ran up to Trowa and helped pull Duo out of the house.

"Come on, Duo!" He lifted Duo off the ground and practically tossed him into the back of the black van the soldiers had arrived on their property with.

The doors shut behind Duo's tumble and the van sped off. Duo shot to his knees and grabbed the handles but only to jiggle them and find them locked. He plastered his hands to the back window and felt the tears burning in his eyes.

Quatre hit as many of the soldiers as he could as he sped away from his home and down the road, to no destination in particular. Bullets hit the van at various points but it didn't hit any of the four people hiding within it.

-

Uno was staring deeply in the eyes of her former self when she heard the front door get broken down. She blinked and tore her gaze away from the photo. She suddenly heard screaming and gunfire and shot to her feet.

Something was wrong _again_!

Uno charged for the door and as soon as she swung it open, stopped dead in her tracks as a man in black with armor all over him and a semi-automatic rifle in his arms was standing before her as if he was walking down the hall. He stopped and turned to her. The two of them blinked in amazement for a moment before her face turned to a twisted expression and she quickly brought her foot up to his chin in a splitting stretch. His neck snapped and he fell just then. Hearing the screams of Duo had told Uno that they needed help and she picked up the semi-automatic rifle from fallen soldier and prepared to enter the fight.

She stepped lightly towards the staircase and there she saw over a dozen men in her living room. She didn't see Duo or anybody else, but they looked up when they saw her. She flared her lips when she snarled and began racing down the stairs. When she hit the floor and turned to face the soldiers while one of their black vans sped off behind her. They had lifted up their guns and aimed at her face, but she only looked disgusted when she found they were sent from Synodd.

Her right arm was holding the gun securely while her hand left brought out the berretta from behind her back. She began to scream loudly as she pulled the trigger of the semi-automatic rifle and began firing away. Bullets sprayed out through the living room and she used the other gun to fire away at the soldiers creeping up behind her. To no one in particular, she maneuvered the rifle from side to side, taking down everyone and everything that stood in her way.

Soon after, the rifle died and smoke rose from both barrels. She glanced around and found no one else was breathing except for her then heard the soft _beeping_ of Heero's laptop, waiting for an acceptance. She turned and walked towards it, the rifle dangling in her arm while the berretta hanging from her grasp. She blinked at the screen but more in anger than in curiosity.

"Computer—shutdown mode." Uno shouted.

Suddenly, the lights in the mansion died and the only light remaining was the screen still waiting to be accepted. With the thought of accepting her fate, Uno dropped the semi-automatic rifle and hit the button to accept the mission.

**The End**

_Stay tuned... there **will** be a sequel!_


	33. Epilogue

_Ain't this amazing! I'm writing more to Duo's Child 1! -all gasps in shock and wonder how crazy this writer has to be- No no no... hehehe... I'm doing this because there's a lot of people asking me questions on whether or not Uno will end up forgetting about Ricky and moving on just like that (readthe sequelto understand) or if there will be more... and I have ideas that require the twist in the sequel to begin in the end of the original piece.. so hence forth I am! Writing! Again! In this thing... finally! .! Okay, anywho... this is the epilogue to hint to you the future of the sequel... enjoy :)_

* * *

**Epilogue**

"Daniel, Sir?"

"Yes, what is it?" Daniel Tanners looked up from his reports on his son's lifeless body to the soldier standing in the doorway to his office.

"We um," the soldier paused, preparing himself for what was to come. His golden crew cut shimmered in the faded office lights and his brown eyes shone forth with guilt. "We ran across a problem with the reconstruction units."

"What?" Daniel's tone grew deep. "What kind of problem?"

"Well Sir, it appears the brain compatibility is functioning at an even higher rate than we thought. The tests we taken weren't enough."

Daniel stood abruptly. "And the character?"

"Stable but we're not sure for how long." The solider moved out of the way so his superior could pass by him and leave the room. The soldier quickly turned on his heels and chased after him.

"We've managed to sustain a sample of his blood. Apparently, mixing the gene with the ex-Gundam Pilot and that woman's was a complete match and the chronological advancement is ten times faster than what it should be."

"That's because of the likeness between the subjects we've chosen," Daniel answered as he shoved through the hallway doors and into another room. "How is he doctor?"

The doctor turned around from the tube with a floating figure inside and lowered his clipboard. The smile washed away from his face, leaving a somewhat worried expression.

"Well, the wound is healing but it'll leave massive damage and brain trauma." He explained as he watched Daniel step up to the tube and stare up at the lifeless form of his son. "There's not much left to do after our formulas and hypothesis."

Daniel nodded and stared into the sleeping eyes of the young boy. He took a deep breath and slowly felt his chest aching from with in. "My dear boy… how could you have gone wrong so easily?

"You were entirely open and free to ideas and yet, determined on your work. How could this girl have turned you against us, driven you mad beyond the extreme to shoot yourself? What had she done to you?" Daniel lowered his head and shut his eyes as the grief of his dead sons washed over him. "I had killed my only son because he was getting too close to my work and his innocence wouldn't hold him back much longer. And now," he looked up at the floating body on the other side of the triple paned glass, "now I have lost my most prized possession to some bitch and her feelings."

"Sir?" The soldier questioned. He and the doctor exchanged glances before Daniel felt his voice returning to his throat.

"Go retrieve the papers from his chemical concoctions and put them on my desk immediately," Daniel ordered the soldier.

"Yes Sir!" The soldier saluted and turned to carry out his given orders. The doctor stepped up to the tube and after a long glance at the figure turned to Daniel with interest.

"What are you saying, Daniel?"

Daniel stared up at the boy he had designed purely out of chemicals and felt his heart melt. "I created him for the sole purpose of assassination for the previous fighters, to block them from our attempts, and now that purpose is gone because of the youngest and most innocent. If I can find out what the problem was in the formula and fix it, then you can reanimate that into his brain so nothing will be there to hold him back from completing his assignment."

"You do not wish to start over again? The doctor glanced down at his clipboard. "It will only take a little under a year with our aging system."

"No," Daniel retorted. "Keep the same body but clearly work on his mind. When he wakes up to carry out his task, nothing would stand in his way as he won't remember a thing about that bloody girl."

He felt a grin tugging at the corners of his lips and bowed his head. His eyes closed and as he watched the scene take place in his mind of what was to come in the future, he murmured, "It would be as if their history had never even happened."


End file.
